World sanitaryware imports and exports

Acimac Research Dept. / MECS updates the yearly analysis of the world ceramic sanitaryware imports/exports flows. The figures confirm a second consecutive year of decline in 2023, a downturn observed in almost all geographical areas of production.

In the period 2010-2023, global import/export flows of ceramic sanitaryware grew by 59.8% from 2.16 million to 3.45 million tonnes, corresponding to a compound annual growth rate of 4%. Following more than a decade of almost uninterrupted growth (the pandemic year 2020 saw the only contraction between 2010 and 2021), global exports of ceramic sanitaryware experienced a second consecutive year of decline in 2023, falling by 5.8% compared to 2022. The downward trend was observed in virtually all areas of production with the sole exception of the NAFTA region, which was sustained by the strong growth of Mexican exports.

Asia remained the world’s largest sanitaryware exporter, increasing its share of global exports to 67.6% despite a 4.5% fall to 2.33 million tonnes in 2023. This was a combined result of contractions in China and Thailand, partially offset by higher exports from India, Vietnam and Iran.

Exports from the European Union, the world’s second largest exporter, also fell by 16.6% to 433,000 tonnes. The three largest exporting countries in the region – Poland, Germany and Portugal, which alone account for half of EU exports – all recorded declines of around 16%.

Following the negative performance in 2022, North America (NAFTA) resumed its growth in exports in 2023 with a total of 336,000 tonnes (+18.4%), almost entirely from Mexico (302,000 tonnes, +20%).

Exports from non-EU European countries also experienced a severe contraction (-21.4% to 199,000 tonnes), with Turkey down 17.7% (153,000 tonnes), followed by South America (69,000 tonnes, -18%) and Africa, which remained stable at around 80,000 tonnes.

The 2023 ranking of the top 10 exporter countries has remained unchanged with respect to 2022.

China retained the top spot with exports of 1.81 million tonnes (down 5.4% on 2022), alone accounting for 78% of Asian and 52.5% of world exports. Mexico, the second largest exporter with an 8.8% share of global exports, recorded a 20.2% increase to 302,000 tonnes, while India recovered from the 2022 contraction with 5.5% growth to reach 265,000 tonnes. Next came Turkey, Poland, Thailand, Germany and Portugal, all with declines of between 16% and 18%. Vietnam and Iran completed the top 10 with 3.5% and 1.5% increases compared to 2022, respectively. Overall, the 10 largest sanitaryware exporter countries accounted for 85% of global exports.

Read the complete article published in Ceramic World Review 159/2024