Attention data geeks: Highlights from our pipe, profile and tubing ranking

This week we published our ranking of 211 pipe, profile and tubing extruders with North American extrusion sales of $18.4 billion, up only a half percent over last year. For readers who love to play with the numbers, here are some key trends, as well as a breakout on the fastest-growing companies.

Nine of the top 10 companies in the ranking are pipe makers, who collectively reported sales declines of 2.2 percent. Resin pricing for PVC was down 1.8 percent and high density polyethylene down 9 percent in 2015, which accounts for much of the sales drop.

Total North American extrusion sales breakout looks like this: 53 percent Pipe, 40 percent profile and 7 percent tubing.

It seems that 2015 was a quiet year for many pipe makers. If you are familiar with our ranking charts you may have noticed that we make footnotes when firms make operational changes.  When a particular industry is active we see many of these changes.  The following chart uses that indicator to show activity in the pipe market over time.

2015 results compared to five years ago. 

Looking at the average sales per type of company vs. five years ago, we see that pipe company sales are up 66 percent to $216.7 million. The average sales for profile extrusion companies is up 20 percent at $64.6 million. The average for tubing extruders is up 32 percent at $31 million.

Our results show that while the Canadian markets were down, the U.S. building and construction markets continued to climb.  Windows & doors and vinyl siding grew slightly in both new construction and remodeling.  Decking and plastic lumber did best with double-digit growth.

So who were the biggest movers?

Tangent Technologies LLC of Aurora, Ill., moved up 50 to rank at No. 53.

Bavarian Polymers Inc. of Dickson, Tenn., moved up 26 to rank at No. 95.

NewAge Industries Inc. of Southampton, Pa., moved up 23 to rank at No. 69.

Certified Thermoplastics Co. Inc. of Santa Clarita, Calif., moved up 15 to rank at No. 153.

Reeves Extruded Products Inc. of Arvin, Calif., moved up 14 to rank at No. 152.

Pipelife Jet Stream Inc. of Siloam Springs, Ark., moved up 10 to rank at No. 44.

Versaprofiles Products Inc. of St.-Lazare, Quebec, moved up nine to rank at No. 131.

Central States Marketing and Manufacturing of McPherson, Kan., moved up eight to rank at No. 195.

Renew Plastics of Luxemburg, Wis., moved up seven to rank at No. 123.

Hudson Extrusions Inc. of Hudson, Ohio, moved up six to rank at No. 162.

Jaeger-Unitek Sealing Solutions Inc. of La Porte, Ind., moved up six to rank at No. 126.

Welcome to the ranking:

Energi Fenestration Solutions of Woodbridge, Ontario

Toner Plastics Inc. of East Longmeadow, Mass.

Pexco Aerospace Inc. of Union Gap, Wash.

Need more information?

Want more information? Visit our ranking online at www.plasticsnews.com/rankings/pipe-profile-tubing.

Plastics lumber makers are also profile extruders, you can see a directory of those firms along with their product types at www.plasticsnews.com/rankings/plastic-lumber.

If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, we would like to include you next time. Just send a note to Hollee Keller at [email protected] or mail your information to Plastics News, P.O. Box 790, Tallmadge, Ohio 44278.

Thanks to Hollee Keller for today's peek behind the data.