World sanitaryware imports and exports (2019)

Luca Baraldi, MECS / Acimac Research Dept. [email protected]

Acimac Research Dept. / MECS updates the yearly analysis of the world ceramic sanitaryware imports/exports flows. In 2019 sanitaryware exports continued to rise with 4.6% growth on 2018, but with a different trend in the various geographical areas of production.

World ceramic sanitaryware import/export flows grew by 75.2% from 2 to 3.5 million tons over the period 2009-2019, corresponding to a compound annual growth rate of 5.8%. In 2019 sanitaryware exports continued to rise with 4.6% growth on 2018, but with a different trend in the various geographical areas of production.

Asia further consolidated its position as the largest world sanitaryware exporter with an increase in its share of world exports from 60% to 62.8% thanks to further strong growth in 2019 (2.2 million tons, +9.1%). This was largely due to Chinese exports, although other main Asian exporters (India, and Vietnam) also registered good export growth. The European Union, the world’s second largest exporter, closed 2019 with 7.4% fall to 541,000 tons, due to the contractions of all major exporting countries, such as Portugal, Germany, Poland and Italy. Sanitaryware exports from North America (NAFTA) were also down 2.6% to 365,000 tons, almost entirely from Mexico, as well as exports from South America, down 2.9% to 87,000 tons. In 2019, non-EU European countries continued their 10-year export expansion trend (+7.7% to 237,000 tons), driven by a further surge in Turkish exports (+6.7%). Finally, Africa registered a 13.7% growth to 75,000 tons.

There were no changes in the rankings of the top 10 exporter countries in 2019 with respect to the previous year. Only four out of the ten countries saw year-on-year growth in their sanitaryware exports.

China continued to top the rankings with 1.75 million tons in 2019, up from 768,000 tons in 2009 (corresponding to a compound annual growth rate of 8.6%). In 2019 it achieved 14% growth over 2018 to set a new all-time record. China alone accounted for 79% of Asian and 60.6% of world exports.

Mexico, the second largest exporter country with an 11.7% share of global exports, fell to 336,000 tons (down 2% on 2018), interrupting the upward trend that has continued since 2013.

With 9% growth over 2018 to 199,000 tons, India confirmed its third place ahead of Turkey with 165,000 tons of exports (up 6.7% on 2018). Except from Vietnam (+15.6% on 2018), all other major exporting countries saw a decrease of their exports, with Portugal (-19.8%) and Italy (-6.8%) marking the worst results.

Read the complete article published in Ceramic World Review 139/2020