Italian tiles expand abroad

One of the distinctive features of the Italian ceramic industry in the new millennium is its presence in foreign markets through commercial, logistic or production units in various countries.

The foreign production units in particular are an entirely new phenomenon for the industry but may prove crucial in competition between the various national and international players over the next few years.

Nine Italian groups have production facilities abroad, located exclusively in Europe and the United States, making up a total of 20 companies operating with 32 factories and 77 kilns.
Italian companies hold a minority interest in a further three international operations which have not been included in the Confindustria Ceramica annual survey.

In 2007 the production of Italian-owned factories in the United States, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Ukraine and Russia amounted to 116.4 million square metres, 1.6 million more than in 2006 (+1.4%).
Unlike production in Italy, foreign output is dominated by single fired tile with 38.2 million sq.m and 32.8% of total production, followed by glazed porcelain tile with 35.6 million sq.m. However, porcelain tile considered as a whole (the sum of glazed and unglazed versions) is the product with the highest output at 54.1 million sq.m. Unglazed porcelain tile saw particularly sharp growth last year in European factories. During 2007 production increased by 31.8%.

Production activities abroad reflect the breakdown of Italian exports with European factories accounting for 77% of total foreign production, 90 million sq.m.
Italian companies produced 26.4 million sq.m of tiles in the United States last year, about half of the country’s total production, with glazed porcelain tile accounting for the highest output volumes.

Total sales by Italian companies abroad amounted to 123.3 million sq.m, of which 95 million sq.m was sold in domestic markets, 24.6 million sq.m was exported to third countries and 3.7 million sq.m was sold on an intercompany basis, a phenomenon that has doubled in terms of volumes over the previous year and involves solely companies operating in Europe.
It is significant that the fall in sales made by Italian manufacturers in the United States (-9.24%) is smaller than that of other American manufacturers, who saw a 13% drop in sales.

Like those based in Italy, Italian companies abroad reported 4.7% turnover growth in 2007 to 916.7 million euro.
The American crisis has adversely affected the total average ex works price, which has dropped to 7.4 euro/sq.m (-1.15%). Although the average price in the United States is significantly higher than in European markets, it dropped by 9.76% to 9.17 euro/sq.m.