World production and consumption of ceramic tiles (2022)

ACIMAC research Dept/MECS anticipates to Ceramic World Review the key figures of the 11th edition of the annual report “World production and consumption of ceramic tiles”. In 2022 world tile production and consumption fell by 9.7% and 10.9% respectively. World tile import-export flows also saw a significant decrease, down 8% on 2021.

The 11th edition of the publication “World production and consumption of ceramic tiles” produced by MECS / Acimac Research Centre is due to be released in October. Consisting of almost 300 pages of charts, tables and commentary, the study provides detailed analysis of the trends occurring over the ten-year period to 2022 in terms of industry, markets, per capita consumption and export flows in geographical macro-regions and in the 76 largest tile producer, consumer, exporter and importer countries. One of this year’s new features is an in-depth analysis of the breakdown of import and export volumes for each individual country by product type (porcelain stoneware, single and double-fired tiles, other materials).

Once again this year, the study will be accompanied by the publication of the volume entitled “Ceramic Tile Market Forecast Analysis 2023-2027”, which provides an updated five-year forecast for the global ceramic tile market. (For info: [email protected])

The world tile production was back to 2019 levels

As widely anticipated, the general slowdown that began in the second half of last year brought an abrupt halt to the recovery in global tile production, consumption and import-export volumes that had characterised 2020-2021. Inflation, the energy crisis and the cooling of demand following the post-pandemic boom impacted the performance of the global ceramic industry and market, which by the end of 2022 had returned to 2019 levels, while import-export flows were back at 2020 levels.  

In 2022, world ceramic tile production fell to 16,762 million sqm, 9.7% down from the 18,572 million sqm of 2021. This represented a decrease of 1.8 billion sqm, mainly attributable to China. Production in Asia fell by 11.6% from 13.8 to 12.2 billion sqm, equivalent to 73% of global production, with China contributing a 1.55 billion sqm loss to this decline.

Most other areas, however, also saw a contraction. Production in the European continent as a whole fell to 1,908 million sqm (11.4% of world production), dropping by 8.4% in the European Union (to 1,267 million sqm) and by 13.5% in non-EU Europe (641 million sqm), largely as a result of the declines in Turkey and Ukraine.

Production in the American continent also fell, dropping to 1,624 million sqm. North America maintained the same levels as in 2021 (378 million sqm; +0.3%), while production in Central and South America fell to 1,246 million sqm, a drop of 8.4%.

In marked contrast to other continents, Africa saw an increase in production to 1,037 million sqm in 2022 (+13%), thanks to gains in Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia.

The international trade decreased to 2.77 billion sqm

In 2022, world exports declined by 8.1%, losing all of the previous year’s gains and returning to 2020 levels of 2,770 million sqm. Once again, the contraction affected all geographical areas with the sole exception of North America, which saw an increase of 5.8% to 48 million sqm. Asia lost 4.3%, dropping from 1,414 to 1,353 million sqm, equivalent to 48.8% of world exports. European Union exports fell from 1,051 to 965 million sqm (-8.2%), and accounted for 35% of the global total. Exports from non-EU European countries also contracted sharply (from 235 to 174 million sqm; -26%). Exports from Central and South America dropped by 10.2% to 164 million sqm and from Africa by 22.7% to 66 million sqm.

The European Union remained the area with the highest export share in 2022 at 76.2% of its production. All the other areas lagged well behind.

China, Spain, India and Italy were the biggest exporting countries in volume, with Italy confirming its leadership position in value, with an average selling price up to 16.8 €/mq.

In the first six months of 2023 all the largest exporters registered a double-digit decrease of their exports, except for India whose exports grew by 31% in volume and by 24.8% in value.

Read the complete article published in Ceramic World Review no 153/2023