April 10/17, 2017: Volume 31, Issue 22
By Ken Ryan
Mannington, Shaw and Forbo are among the suppliers raising prices on resilient flooring, mainly sheet vinyl. The price hikes—which are the result of increased costs of raw materials, transportation and manufacturing—are set to take effect in May.
Mannington is implementing a 3% to 6% price increase on select residential vinyl sheet products in the U.S. and Canada. “Continued increases in raw material prices are an unfortunate reality in today’s marketplace,” said Jimmy Tuley, vice president of residential resilient. “We continue to focus on maximizing efficiencies and reducing cost; however, at some point an increase has to be passed through.”
Forbo Flooring Systems is instituting a 3% price increase on all commercial and residential flooring and sundry products, effective May 1. Pricing on the company’s newly introduced Marmoleum Click CinchLOC product will not be affected.
Shaw resilient sheet product prices will increase by 4% to 7% starting in late May.
Congoleum also said it is planning a price increase on sheet goods only, according to Kurt Denman, chief marketing officer, executive vice president of sales. Details were not available at press time.
Other major suppliers such as Armstrong, Karndean, Metroflor, Raskin Industries, Tarkett and USFloors told FCNews they had no plans to raise prices on any of their product lines. “Although raw material prices have risen over recent months, our ongoing manufacturing efforts have allowed us to minimize the impact and control our costs,” said Jon Gittrich, marketing director, residential marketing, Tarkett. “If it becomes necessary to widely raise prices in order to maintain our expected levels of service and quality, then we will communicate any changes directly to our customers.”