Spanish ceramic exports 11% up in April

Oct 25, 2002

Spanish ceramic tile companies increased their exports by 13.7% in AprilExports of ceramic products during last April increased by 11%, reaching a figure of 187.69 million euro. Castell?ompanies grew by 13.7% during this period, mainly due to the ceramic sector. The principal clients for ceramic products are based in other European countries.The Spanish Association of Ceramic Tile and Paving Manufacturers (ASCER) is now promoting, together with other sectorial associations such as ATEVAL (Textiles), ANIEME (Furniture) and ARVET (Transformed Products), a plan for the Promotion of the International Image of their decorative products. The plan has been named "Habitat".
The plan, presented by the State Secretary for Commerce and Tourism, Juan Costa, and by the Councillor for Innovation and Competitiveness, Fernando Castell?ill be financed by the Instituto Espa?de Comercio Exterior, which will invest more than 9.5 million euro. The promotional actions have been defined and the agreed upon by the four sectorial associations involved and will be developed as of the beginning of the coming year in countries with consolidated markets, such as France, England, Italy, Germany and USA, as well as in other emerging markets, such as Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Russia.
The Spanish ceramic sector, 98% of which is concentrated in the province of Castell?destined a total of 165.5 million euro to industrial investment during 2001, a 43.5% increase with respect to the previous year. This figure represents 19.2% of the industrial investments carried out in the entire Valencia Region. The investments in the ceramic sector were destined to the extension of installations, the incorporation of new technologies, the improvement in product quality and the diversification of the offer. Sales for 2001 increased by 5% and reached a total figure of 3472 million euro.