Economics and markets

The order issued on the evening of Friday 3 April by the Italian Ministry of Health and the Emilia Romagna Regional Government authorises companies to sell products in stock in Italy and abroad.

Giovanni Savorani, Chairman of Confindustria Ceramica, sounds the alarm: “We are extremely concerned because the decisions taken by the Italian government to prevent the spread of the virus are harming the competitiveness of the sector.”

The appeal made by the Chairman of the Italian Federation of Capital Goods Manufacturers, which includes ACIMAC (ceramic machinery manufacturers’ association), to the Italian institutions and the employers’ federation Confindustria to allow companies to reopen from 13 April.

In 2019, Canadian ceramic tile consumption registered a further decrease, declining by 11.2% to 35.3 million sq.m

Total new home starts grew by 3.2%, while new single-family home sales were at their highest level in twelve years: +10.3%.

In 2019, U.S. ceramic tile consumption declined for the first time in a decade to 273.2 million sq.m. (-5,4% on 2018). This affected both the domestic production (83 million sq,m, -4.8%) and imports (193 million sq.m, -5.5%), with China dropping by 36.4%.

The Spanish ceramic tile industry recorded a 4% growth in turnover in 2019 to 3,740 million euros, thanks to the strong performances both on the domestic market (+8) and on the exports markets (+3%). Production fell to 503 million sq.m (-5%)

In 2018, the volume of construction work amounted to 8.4 trillion roubles, which is a 5.3% year-on-year rise, the highest for 10 years.

Tile production in Bangladesh has grown by 150% in the space of just 5 years, reaching 119 million sq.m in 2018. DBL Ceramics stands among the local largest ceramic tile producers.

With an installed capacity already in excess of 40 million pieces/year, India is the world’s second largest sanitaryware producer. 75% of production comes from Gujarat.

In 2019, production and sales remained stagnant at 409 million sq.m.  Non-European markets saw the biggest falls, while the domestic market made a slight recovery.

With a production of about 114 million sq.m, Nigeria is now the second largest tile producer in Africa, with 8 manufacturing companies, of which 6 financed entirely by Chinese capital

Production and exports will continue to grow. The new challenge comes from the introduction of 42.9% antidumping duties on Indian tiles in the Gulf States.

From 2015 to 2018, Turkish ceramic tile exports have grown steadily to 100 million sqm, representing 30% of national production.

The Uzbek government has launched a major investment programme covering a range of sectors including construction

With the adoption of countervailing and antidumping duties on Chinese tile imports in the US, the race is on for both US tile manufacturers and all the other supplying countries to win a slice of the 64.3 million sq.m of Chinese products.

Christophe Callon, Purchase & Marketing manager at Saint Gobain Building Distribution Tiles & Flooring and CEO of Decoceram, explains the changes in the European flooring market and in the distribution of ceramic tiles. 

Roca, Kohler, Geberit and Toto lead the rankings of the world ceramic sanitaryware manufacturers by volumes of production in 2018. See who is next.

The project takes account of Mozambique’s fast-growing population and its high degree of vulnerability to climate change

Acimac Research Dept. updates the yearly analysis of the world ceramic sanitaryware imports/exports flows. In 2018 sanitaryware exports continued to rise with 9.4% growth on 2017, marking a positive trend in all geographical areas of production.