Italian tile production remains stable

Jun 28, 2004

28/06/04 - According to figures announced by Assopiastrelle, the 239 companies in the Italian ceramic tile sector produced an output of 603.4 million square metres in 2003, very slightly down (-0.3%) on the 605.5 million square metres of 2002. Italy remains amongst the leaders in the world rankings with a market share of 35% and exports of 71%.

Last year total sales reached 588 million square metres, 3.4% down on 2002. The greatest fall was in exports, down by 4.6 percentage points to 417.6 million square metres.
The only growth market was the United States, Italy’s leading trading partner, which showed an increase of 8%. The domestic market has seen a 0.2% fall on 2002 to 170.4 million square metres.

In terms of value, turnover reached 5,190 million euro (-2.4%), of which 3,747 million euro (-3.1%) originated from exports and 1,442 million euro (-0.2%) from the domestic market.

The in-focus section contains production by product type and a table with the main economic indicatorspiastrelle_espositore.jpgProduction by product typeProduction by product type

Floor tiles now account for 80.5% of the Italian tile industry’s total production.
Growth of porcelain tile within the production portfolio continued in 2003 due to the glazed segment, now equivalent to 57.6% of total sales at 338 million square metres.

Instead there was a fall in single fired tile (167.7 million square metres) and double fired tile (54.5 million square metres). Rustic terracotta, clinker and other products remained stable.The main economic indicatorsindicatori_assopiastrelle_2004.pdf