Citing the steady increase in the cost of raw material used in its tile and sheet products, Armstrong Floor Products said it will increase the price on certain products. Included will be a 4 to 6 percent increase on commercial vinyl composition tile and select residential sheet products, as well as a 15 percent increase on a number of its sheet products. The increases take effect beginning February 1, 2005.

"Declining PVC resin and plasticizer capacity, coupled with increasing global demand has resulted in unprecedented price escalation for key PVC based materials," said the company's, vice president, residential sheet flooring, Allen Cubell. "In April 2004 the tragic explosion at the Formosa plant in Illiopolis, Illinois cut the number of key domestic plants from five to four. On Wednesday, January 5, Oxy Chem shut its Pottstown, Pennsylvania operation, effectively taking another manufacturing plant out of the marketplace, leaving only three U.S. plants. As a result, costs for these key raw materials have continued to skyrocket.

"While we are confident that we have secured all of our PVC resin and plasticizer supply for 2005, market prices for these products continue to rise dramatically. Continuing productivity improvements cannot offset the full cost impact of these increases, making this price increase necessary."

"We continue to focus on driving the productivity, innovation and quality initiatives that make Armstrong the best resilient flooring supplier in the industry. Our goal continues to be to provide our customers superior products and timely service on all Armstrong products," said Cubell.