The Brazilian ceramic industry focuses on exports

The first 4 months of 2021 marked a strong recovery in Brazilian tile exports, which grew by 45% in value and by 48% in volume compared to January-April 2020.

In 2020, Brazil, one of the major players in the world's ceramics industry, also had to deal with the consequences of the pandemic. The temporary closure of industrial plants in the first months of the year inevitably caused a drop in tile production, which fell to 840 million square meters (-7.6% on 2019).

Exports also decreased to 94 million square meters (-5.7% on 2019), despite the 5 million square meters more sold on the US market (25 million square meters, +25%).

Overall, however, Brazilian tile producers managed to close the year with an increase in total sales, which rose to 920 million square meters (+2.7%), thanks to the rebound in demand on the domestic market in the second half of the year: at the end of 2020, domestic sales had in fact grown by 3.8% on 2019, to 826 million square meters.

Investments were also resumed quickly. In order to add greater value to its offerings and increase the competitiveness of the global markets, the sector continued to focus mainly on improving the product mix and on more sustainable materials and processes.

Increasing Brazil's share in international trade remains the priority objective of the Brazilian ceramic tile industry, which aims to establish as one of the three largest exporters of ceramic tiles on the planet in the next few years.

Historically, we have exported around 10% of our production, but we expect this percentage to reach 25% by 2030 said Anfacer’s Chairman, Benjamin Ferreira Neto. For that to happen, we will need to increase our exports by an average of 2% per year over the next ten years, which will require us to act on various fronts, first of all adding value to the exported product, investing in machinery, design and innovation

According to our estimates, we expect Brazilian exports to grow by 12% compared to the results obtained in 2020, he added.

The results of the first months of 2021 go in this direction: between January and April 2021, Brazilian ceramic tile exports grew by 45% in value and by 48% in volume compared to the same period in 2020.

Read the complete interview with Benjamin Ferreira Neto published in Ceramic World Review 142/2021