TRG | The Bottom Line – 6/18

Vegas conferences are back! Last week’s World of Concrete conference in Las Vegas marked the first major convention since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and this past week, the construction industry again hit Vegas with The International Surface Event (Surfaces). The TRG team ventured to Surfaces this week, meeting in person with industry contacts at a convention for the first time since February 2020. The show was smaller, and we estimate the number of attendees was 30% versus pre-pandemic levels. Mostly hard surface products were on display, reflecting the increasing consumer shift, and all the talk at the show was inflation (yes, expect more price increases before the end of the year), supply chain (worry about how Christmas shipping will further tighten the ability to get imported LVT to the U.S.), and just how much demand continues to improve (commercial, not just resi, is strong). Either way you cut it, everyone was upbeat and there to do business.