US Sales of Decorative Laminates to Exceed 12 Billion Square Feet in 2013

Sales of decorative laminates in the US are forecast to reverse their downward trend and increase 2.1 percent per year to over twelve billion square feet in 2013, valued at $7.4 billion.  Gains will be sparked by increased demand from the flooring industry, where shipments of laminate flooring are projected to advance over eleven percent per year to 750 million square feet in 2013.  These and other trends, including market share and product segmentation, are presented in Decorative Laminates, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.

Cabinets are expected to remain the leading market for decorative laminates in 2013, with demand for laminates reaching about three billion square feet.  Advances will be derived from the rebounding housing market, as increasing housing completions will spur demand for cabinets in new housing. However, gains will be restrained by increasing competition from cabinets made from other materials, especially solid wood.  Further growth will be encouraged by homeowners’ desires to renovate their kitchens and bathrooms.  Consumers will continue to use laminates due to their ease of maintenance and low cost.

Manufacturers of laminates will continue to offer a wide range of product styles and textures, especially those that resemble natural and exotic woods, metals and three-dimensional natural stone surfaces.  Laminate producers will also continue to offer customers aesthetically pleasing surfacing choices that cost less than other materials.  Despite these advantages, laminates will face strong competition from other surfacing materials.  For example, in the countertops market, granite, engineered quartz, and solid surfacing materials are gaining market share.

Laminates made from low-pressure overlays, including low-basis weight papers, saturated papers, decorative foils and vinyl films, are forecast to account for nearly 80 percent of decorative laminate sales volume in 2013.  Demand will be driven by increased use of saturated papers in the high-growth flooring market and continued adoption of low-pressure laminates as low-cost decorative surfacing products for furniture, cabinets and store fixtures.  High-pressure laminates are expected to post more rapid gains than low-pressure laminates through 2013. 

The Freedonia Group is a leading international business research company, founded in 1985, that publishes more than 100 industry research studies annually. This industry analysis provides an unbiased outlook and a reliable assessment of an industry and includes product segmentation and demand forecasts, industry trends, demand history, threats and opportunities, competitive strategies, market share determinations and company profiles.