WASHINGTON, D.C. — Shipments of asphalt shingles and built-up roofing dropped in 2018, while modified bitumen increased slightly.

The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association released its Quarterly Product Shipment Report on Friday. The report covers asphalt roofing product shipments in the U.S. and Canada for the fourth quarter and for all of 2018.

Among other things, the report indicates asphalt shingle shipments for the year were about 143 million compared with about 151 million in 2017, representing a drop of about 5 percent. 

Built-up roofing shipments for the year dropped from about 9.2 million in 2017 to about 7.9 million in 2018. For the fourth quarter, shipments dropped about 22 percent.

Modified bitumen increased from about 34.3 million in 2017 to about 35.3 million last year.

Overall, fourth quarter figures continued a downward trend that began in the third quarter of 2018.

More detailed numbers are in the table below.

ARMA began issuing the quarterly report last July.

The organization notes that roofing product shipment data is collected from participating manufacturers by an independent third party, Association Research Inc., and aggregated to create the report.

“By issuing these reports, ARMA is providing the interested members of the public an opportunity to stay up-to-date on the asphalt roofing industry,” said ARMA’s Executive Vice President Reed Hitchcock.

ARMA is a trade association representing North America’s asphalt roofing manufacturing companies and their raw material suppliers. The association includes the majority of North American manufacturers of asphalt shingles and asphalt low slope roof membrane systems. Information that ARMA gathers on modern asphalt roofing materials and practices is provided to building and code officials, as well as to regulatory agencies and allied trade groups, according to the organization.