World tile production approaches 12 billion sq.m

The second edition of the study entitled "World Production and Consumption of Ceramic Tiles", which analyses the performance of the ceramic tile industry and market in 75 countries over a ten-year period from 2004 to 2013, is now available.

The report consists of 250 pages and was produced by the Acimac Statistics Department. It provides tables and charts illustrating ceramic tile production, consumption, import and export volumes and their respective market shares country by country. Alongside the analysis for each individual country, it also provides the aggregate figures for large geographical regions. Available in Italian and English, the study is designed to help machinery manufacturers and tile producers draw up their business strategies.

According to the report, world tile production reached 11,913 million square metres in 2013, 6.4% up on the previous year. World consumption also maintained strong growth to reach 11,574 million sq.m, up 5.9% on 2012.

China remained the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of ceramic tiles in 2013. Its output totalled around 5.7 billion sq.m (up 9.6% on 2012), equivalent to 47.8% of world production. The second and third largest producer countries were Brazil with 871 million sq.m and India with 750 million sq.m. Next came Iran (500 million sq.m) and Spain (420 million sq.m), while Italy was seventh with 363 million sq.m (down 1.1% on 2012).

As for exports, China topped the rankings with 1.148 billion sq.m followed by Spain in second position with 318 million sq.m, up 7.4%. In third place was Italy with 303 million sq.m, although it maintained the top position in terms of two important figures: export share (83.5%) and average price (12.8 €/sq.m, the real indicator of Italy's world leadership position). The three biggest exporter countries - China, Spain and Italy - accounted for 66.1% of world exports in 2013.