Fall in Italian ceramic tile production
Production fell by 3% over 2004, bringing production volumes to 570 million square metres. Exports were also down, reaching 390 million square metres (down 5% on the 413 million square metres of 2004). Export volumes to all major areas fell in 2005 by percentages of between 2.5% in Central and Eastern Europe and 7.8% in the rest of the world.
By contrast, sales are holding strong in the domestic market at 170 million square metres.
As Mr Panzani confirmed, the sector is being badly hit by the increase in the costs of labour and above all energy, which have severely affected profitability.
To cope with the higher production costs the Italian industry has raised its average selling prices, although this strategy is proving unpopular with the market.
The increase in average selling prices together with greater control over costs has led to an improvement in profitability. Large companies with a turnover in excess of 40 million euro have seen an increase in profitability from 4.3% to 5.9%, whereas small companies reached 2.8% at the end of 2004.
The forecasts for next year are for the current levels of production, exports and sales to be substantially maintained. Production is expected to fall by a further 0.9% over 2005 as a result of stagnation in total sales (-0.2%). A small increase is expected in domestic sales (+0.3%) whereas exports are likely to fall by a further 0.5%.
Export sales are expected to show different trends in different areas. A strong recovery in sales to North America (+3.2%) will be offset by stagnation in sales in Europe (albeit with a stronger performance in Western Europe at -0.9%) and continued difficulties in more distant markets (-5%).
The subject will be covered in greater depth in issue 65 of Ceramic World Review, due to be published at the end of February. This will include an analysis of the final figures for 2005 and the forecasts for 2006/2007 for the Italian ceramic tile industry.
Issue 65 will also feature an analysis of manufacturing costs for the Italian industry.
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