BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme Survey Sees Market Easing

The latest BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme quarterly survey of joinery companies processing fire doors (Licensed convertors) sees signs that the worst may be past.

‘BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme label sales have shown over time that the fire door market follows a regular, recognised pattern’, comments BWF Chief Executive Richard Lambert. ‘They tend to drop away by about one-third from the summer’s peak during the second half of the year. Last year, the recession accentuated the fall: the drop was more than half. This year, the pattern is closer to normal, which must be seen as an optimistic sign.

‘The latest trend survey also shows that things are slowly starting to improve. As always with this survey, which samples different companies each time, you have to look at trends rather than absolute numbers. The fourth quarter of 2009 is still below the same point last year, but not anything like as much as in the two previous quarters. And the large manufacturers have rallied.

‘I have, however, to return to my worry from the previous two surveys. The number of doors sold with unfilled apertures continues to increase. This is an issue that fire door manufacturers cannot avoid indefinitely. The industry has put time, effort and money into establishing an effective and disciplined certification process, and to promoting the message that the certification must be maintained through out the supply chain. It is an anomaly to continue to place apertured and unglazed doors on the general market, effectively releasing them to general purchasers outside the certification system. There may be a market for them, but should we bow to that demand if it undermines certification?’