Chinese tile exports fall to 600 million sqm

The export volumes fell by a further 2.5% in 2024, but China remains the world’s top tile exporter by volume, ahead of India.

In 2024, Chinese ceramic tile exports maintained the downward trend that has continued now for more than a decade, the only interruption being in 2023.

Data compiled by the Mecs Research Centre show that following the 6% rebound in 2023, China’s exports fell by a further 2.5% last year, from 615 million to 600 million sqm. However, these volumes still position China as the world’s top tile exporter, largely because its closest rival India experienced a much sharper decline in exports, down by 11% to 525 million sqm last year.

More than 70% of Chinese tile exports are sold in Asia

Asian countries are absorbing an increasingly significant share of Chinese exports. In 2024, Asia (including the Middle East) imported 442.5 million sqm of Chinese tiles (+0.9% on 2023), equivalent to almost 74% of China’s total exports (compared to 52% just ten years ago). Fourteen of China’s 20 largest export markets are in Asia, with the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand occupying the top five positions.

Sales in Latin America, the second most important export region for Chinese tiles, declined by 11% last year to 66 million sqm. Out of the largest markets in this region – Peru, Chile, Colombia and the Dominican Republic – only Colombia recorded an increase in sales.

The now decade-long decline in Chinese exports to Africa also worsened in 2024, partly due to the growth in Chinese-owned production facilities across the continent. Exports dropped to 34 million sqm (-29%), the main countries of export being Senegal, Kenya, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.

At the same time, however, Chinese tile exports gained ground in Oceania with sales of 37.6 million sqm last year (+10.6% on 2023). Some 33 million sqm (+9.4%) of these exports were sold in Australia, which remains China’s sixth largest overseas market with a share of around 75%.

Since the introduction of anti-dumping duties by the United States in 2020, China’s exports to North America have been limited almost exclusively to Canada, China’s 16th largest overseas market with 9% sales growth in 2024 to 9 million sqm. A further 3 million sqm of tiles were exported to Mexico and the US, although both markets experienced declines.

Finally, Europe (EU and non-EU), now a marginal market for Chinese ceramic tiles, saw a further decline in 2024 to 8 million sqm.

More than 80% of exports concentrated in the top 20 markets

A more detailed analysis of the performance of individual Chinese tile export markets reveals some interesting trends.

Firstly, export sales are highly concentrated in the largest markets: in 2024, out of the approximately 200 countries to which China exported tiles, the top 20 accounted for 82.6% of total exports in terms of volume (or 81% excluding Hong Kong, a special administrative region), in other words 496 million sqm out of a total of 600 million sqm.

A further 33 countries imported volumes of between 1 and 5 million sqm from China, while imports from all other countries were below 1 million sqm.

The second trend is the high degree of variation between different countries: while six of the top 20 markets saw double-digit declines in sales volumes in 2024 (Indonesia, Cambodia, Peru, Israel, Myanmar and Dominican Republic), another six recorded sharp growth (Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, North Korea, Colombia and Kazakhstan).

Sharp decline in export revenues

While China’s exports fell by 2.5% in volume in 2024, the decline in value terms was reportedly even more pronounced. According to Chinese customs data, export revenues fell by approximately 30% from €4.27 billion in 2023 to around €3 billion in 2024. Most major markets experienced contractions in terms of value, in some cases significantly, including those with the biggest increases in volumes. The only exceptions were Australia (export value up 2.6% to €185 million) and Kazakhstan (up 28.6% to €31 million). Average selling prices declined sharply across the board, remaining stable only in Indonesia at €3.2/sqm.