Africa: sustained growth in production and consumption

Tile consumption in Africa will be close to 2 billion sq.m in 2028, 500 million sq.m more than 2023 levels.

Africa will be one of the main drivers of the recovery of the global ceramic tile industry and market in the coming years. This can be seen from the forecast report “Ceramic Tile Market Forecast Analysis. TREND 2024-2028”, published last November by the MECS-Acimac Research Centre.

Driven by a rapidly evolving economy and a significant infrastructure gap compared to more developed regions, Africa remains the fastest-growing macro-area within the global ceramic industry.

Following a decade of extraordinary expansion with average annual growth rates of 11% in tile production and 6.3% in consumption, the latest MECS analysis confirms that the continent will continue its upward trajectory, albeit with slightly more moderate growth.

For the period 2024-2028, MECS forecasts an average annual increase of 5.6% in tile production (from 1.18 billion sqm in 2024 to 1.55 billion sqm in 2028). Consumption is expected to grow at an annual rate of 6%, reaching 1.97 billion sqm by 2028, an increase of 500 million sqm compared to 2023, equivalent to 11.1% of global tile consumption.

This expansion is being driven not only by general economic growth, with GDP expected to rise by 4.1% annually through 2028, but also by the booming tourism industry and the surge in investments in infrastructure and hospitality. These factors are fuelling a significant acceleration in construction activity (projected by MECS to grow at an average annual rate of 2.5%), in turn driving up demand for ceramic tiles.

As for production, a number of new players including Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Mozambique are emerging alongside the existing major producer countries such as Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana. These will help to strengthen Africa’s ceramic tile manufacturing base, although part of the continent’s demand will continue to be met by imports.