Ceramic tile industry reports strong 2010 performance

With its 172 companies, the Italian ceramic tile industry showed a strong year-on-year recovery in 2010 with output growth of 5.29% to 387.4 million sq.m. This strong performance was also reflected in 2.70% turnover growth to 4.629 billion euro and a 1.07% increase in sales volumes to 412.8 million sq.m as the net result of a contraction in the Italian domestic market (-3.15%), where average prices remained stable at around 9.84 euro/sq.m, and a recovery in exports (up 2.99% to 289.2 million sq.m).

Specifically, 2010 saw particularly positive signs in the markets of the Far East (around +17%), the Gulf region (+7.7%), Eastern Europe (+5%) and Latin America (+4%). By contrast, a slight fall was reported in Western Europe (-0.6%), the area with the largest market shares. The industry also reported good results in the NAFTA countries, although initial estimates suggest that the 8% growth of 2010 will be followed by a two-figure contraction in 2011.