The Spanish ceramic tile industry grows amid concerns for the future
These were the first figures announced by Ascer chairman Fernando Diago in an interview given to the Spanish edition of Ceramic World Review to be distributed at the next Cevisama.
According to estimates published recently in the Spanish newspaper Mediterraneo, production is expected to increase by 2.1%, while the export figures for the first ten months of 2005 unveiled by Ascer indicate a 2.6% increase in terms of value. The final figures will be announced during Ascer’s annual press conference at Cevisama.
In spite of the positive figures, however, the industry is making no attempt to hide its very real concerns for the future, mainly due to the rising energy costs, which as in many other countries are threatening companies’ productivity.
The most serious risk, Diago believes, will be the difficulty in maintaining companies’ habitual standards of technological innovation, which will affect investments in production technology and product research as well as the willingness on the part of the sector’s companies to adopt more modern integrated management systems such as ERP.
In response to the rising production costs, the Spanish industry revised its product prices at the end of 2005, making increases of between 5% and 18% according to the destination markets and the individual companies.
Ascer’s chairman also believes that Spanish companies must seek more effective monitoring of and presence in foreign markets. This may involve investments in local production in the same way as the more mature Italian industry.
The in-focus section contains tables for Spanish exports in the first 10 months of 2005.
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