The latest Quarterly Product Shipment Report from the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA) shows how much asphalt roofing may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
ARMA doesn’t provide insights into its quarterly reports, but it’s not a stretch to say that the report for the second quarter (Q2) of 2020 demonstrates the impact that the pandemic has had on the roofing industry.
“The shipment report is a valuable resource for ARMA members and other interested parties because of the relevant, important insights it provides into the current state of the asphalt roofing industry,” said ARMA’s Executive Vice President Reed Hitchcock.
Unlike the Q1 2020 report, every category of product saw a decrease in Q2 2020 when compared to the same time last year (see table below). For instance, shipments of shingles in the U.S., tracked in squares, was down by 9.3% (2.7 million in 2019 versus 1.8 million this year).
Canada saw an even larger decrease in shingle shipments, down 21.4% between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020 (4 million compared to 3.2 million).
BUR’s shipment decrease was the largest of the tracked products, with shipments dropping by 21.3%. Modified bitumen shipments in the U.S. saw a decline of 18% between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020.
Decreases in Q2 2019 were not nearly as drastic. The following shows the differences when comparing Q2 2019 to Q2 2018:
- Shingles (U.S.): 4.2% increase
- BUR: 0.3% increase
- Modified bitumen: 5.9% decrease
- Shingles (Canada) 8.9% decrease
When looking at 2020 as a whole, the numbers show anywhere from a 9.1% to a 10.4% decrease when comparing this year’s shipment totals to year-to-date 2019 shipments. In Canada, the year-to-date total for shingles in 2019 compared to this year was a 15.8% decrease.
Roofing product shipment data is collected from participating manufacturers by an independent third party, Association Research Inc., and aggregated to create this report. For more information, visit ARMA’s website.
