Exports and internationalisation: the Italian industry's leadership role
Italian tiles sold abroad in 2006 totalled 512.3 million sq.m (the sum of exports from Italy and foreign production controlled by Italian groups), generating a total turnover of 5,034.2 million euro.
Italian exports last year totalled 395.8 million sq.m (+1.41%) accounting for 70% of total sales. In terms of value, exports reached 4,158.3 million euro (+7.62%).
Italy's strongest export performance was in the Baltic region, an area where all countries showed strong growth with increases of between +2.05% in Finland and +26.84% in Latvia. Greece (+4.13%) and France (+1.86%) continued to perform well, but downturns were reported in Germany (-3.63%) and the British Isles (more than -3% on average). Sales also experienced difficulties in Spain and Portugal (-0.5%).
In non-European markets (overall +3.19%), sales performed strongly in Russia (+13.78%), Asia (+2.58%) and Africa (+10.24%), while falls were reported in the United States (-1.35%) and Australia/Oceania (-9.07%) due to the strong competition from producers in the Far East and the recession in the US property market.
Italian production abroad totalled 114.8 million square metres (+13.51%). 74.39% of production took place in European countries, the rest in the United States. Sales amounted to 116.5 million sq.m, corresponding to a total turnover of 875.9 million euro (+25.38%).
As regards product types, 42.1 million square metres of single fired tile were produced (+3.92%); glazed porcelain tile reached 35.5 million square metres (+18.06%); unglazed porcelain tile exceeded 14 million square metres (+31.72%); double fired tile reached 13.1 million square metres (+7.73%); and the "other products" category accounted for 10.1 million square metres (+29.95%).
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