WASHINGTON, D.C. — The latest shipment report from the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA) shows asphalt shingles, built-up roof (BUR) membranes and modified bitumen are up from last year’s third quarter numbers.

ARMA recently released its Quarterly Product Shipment Report, covering asphalt roofing product shipments in the United States and Canada in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019.

The report includes year-to-date shipment information and a comparison with the prior year’s data. All data is measured in squares.

The report shows shingles in the U.S. totaled 37.5 million squares, an increase of 17.1 percent from Q3 in 2018 (roughly 32 million). The year-to-date amounts also saw an increase between 2018 and 2019, rising 4.1 percent (113 million to 118 million).

Conversely, shingles in the Canadian market saw a significant decrease, dropping 18 percent from Q3 2018 to Q3 2019 (3.9 million to 3.2 million, respectively). When measuring the year-to-date amounts, shingle shipments in Canada have dropped by 12.9 percent in the past year.

Despite the decreases in the Canadian market, a separate report from Global Market Insights indicates that shingle sales will continue to rise, with the global market surpassing the $9.5 billion mark by 2025.

BUR shipments in the U.S. saw an increase of 6.8 percent, jumping from 2 million in Q3 2018 to 2.1 million in Q3 2019. Overall BUR shipments, however, decreased in year-to-date totals by 5.1 percent.

In the U.S., modified bitumen shipments saw a slight increase of 5.7 percent when comparing Q3 numbers. However, year-to-date shipments decreased by 3.2 percent between 2018 and 2019.

See the chart below for more details about Q3 shipments and how they compare to last year’s results.

The numbers are an overall improvement over Q2 numbers. For comparison, here are the increases/decreases for Q2 2018 and Q2 2019:

• Shingles (U.S.) – Increase of 4.2 percent for Q2; decrease of 1 percent for year-to-date
• BUR – Increase of 0.3 percent for Q2; decrease of 10.7 percent for year-to-date
• Modified bitumen – Decrease of 5.9 percent for Q2; decrease of 7.6 percent for year-to-date
• Shingles (Canada) – Decrease of 8.9 percent for Q2; decrease of 10.7 percent for year-to-date

ARMA does not comment on what trends the numbers may indicate.

“ARMA’s shipment report provides interested parties with direct insight into the asphalt roofing industry, and complimentary access is a valued ARMA member benefit,” said ARMA’s Executive Vice President Reed Hitchcock.

Companies that are not members of ARMA may examine the free quarterly summaries, and those ineligible for ARMA membership can subscribe to the full, detailed report on the ARMA website.

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 group.