What is the situation with respect to ceramic tile production and consumption in the world? The Acimac / MECS Study Center has released the data in its annual study "World Production and Consumption of Ceramic Tiles," taken from Ceramic World Review.
The comprehensive study, due out in October 2021, analyzes 10-year (2010-2020) trends in industry, market, per capita consumption and export flows by both geographic macro-areas and the 76 largest tile producing, consuming, exporting or importing countries.
Production and consumption in the world
The year 2020 was a special year for tile production and consumption; this is because, despite the pandemic, the past year saw a recovery in tiles produced and consumed worldwide.
Specifically, global demand grew by 2.5 percent, while production increased by 1.7 percent. It must be said, with respect to production, that this was penalized more or less severely in some countries due to restrictive regulations put in place for the Covid-19 emergency.
Going into detail:
- In Europe, production was down in EU countries (-6.6 percent), while it was up in non-EU countries (+11.9 percent), mainly driven by Turkey
- In Asia, production increased by 2.8 percent. Countries such as China, India, and Iran drove the recovery and made up for declines in Vietnam and Indonesia
- North America saw a -2.7 percent drop in production
- South Central America, like the North, saw a decline but a much larger one (-7.6 percent)
- Africa, on the other hand, is growing, with production up 6.1 percent
Import - Export
Speaking of import-export, in general 2020 saw a decline in trade flows, down to 2,769 million sq. m. (-67 million over 2019).
Driving most of all this decline is the 20 percent drop in Chinese exports. Going into detail:
- In EU countries, exports remained almost stable compared to 2019, while exports from non-EU countries (Turkey in the lead) grew by 11.9 percent
- A 4.5 percent decline in exports was recorded in Asia
- Exports from Central and South America ( -10%), North America ( -8.9%) and Africa ( -8%) also declined.
The forecast for 2021
MECS-Acimec estimates that 2021 could also be a good year, building on the previous one. Data from individual countries, such as China and Brazil, bode well for the industry's growth.
Italian numbers are also positive and are set to grow and return to pre-Covid numbers, aided by exports.
