The Covid-19 pandemic has strained the productivity of companies and the responsiveness of markets. Compared to made-in-Italy ceramics, however, the data show us an all-positive scenario: the industry has been able to cope with the shock wave of the health emergency, with losses lower than those projected during the first lockdown in March-April 2020.
According to initial estimates, total tile sales stood at 391 million square meters at the end of 2020, down about 4 percent from 407 million in 2019. This corresponds to 16 million square meters less, 10 of which were lost in the domestic market and 6 in foreign markets.
In Italy, sales fell to 73 million sq m, registering a -12% drop on the previous year, while exports had a much less drastic and better-than-expected decline, ending the year with a -2% drop to 317 million sq m.
Data improvement began from May-June 2020 and continued through the second half of the year, in which losses were mitigated to contain the damage as much as possible.
Declining production
Production has fallen sharply nationwide. It is down from 401 million in 2019 to about 330 million at the end of 2020, a drop of about 18 percent. The causes are the March-April lockdown and the lockout of trade fair events.
Thus, companies were able to draw on stock reserves, disposing of goods already produced to make up for the drop in production.
The comment of Confindustria Ceramica
In light of the pre-consumptions on the year 2020, Confindustria Ceramics President Giovanni Savorani said that "In the year that saw the pandemic affect our lives and activities, we can say that this 2020 ended on a downward trend, but all in all, less worse than could have been expected."
The president's attention focuses on some primary issues for the sector, such as the European Union's ETS system, which, "while aiming at a climate objective that can be fully shared, inconsistently penalizes a sector, such as Italian ceramics, that has invested significant resources and is at the forefront of existing technology. Added to this," Savorani said, "is the unacceptable exclusion of our sector from the list of sectors eligible for ETS indirect cost offsets, i.e., those on purchasing electricity. This exclusion is unjustified due to the very high exposure of our companies to international trade and risks irreversibly benefiting our competitors."
Another important issue is that of tax deductions and, in particular, the 110% Superbonus: "It is essential that the extraordinary attention Italians are paying to the 110% Superbonus incentives can become real construction sites to redevelop important portions of cities. To achieve this, it is essential that the expiration of the incentives be matched to that of the Recovery Plan, year 2026, and above all that the procedures be simplified, lest their complexity put so many off doing. Finally, the lending institutions' plafonds must be capacious enough to finance all those interested in renovating."
