Exports and internationalisation: the Italian industry's leadership role

May 28, 2007

28/05/07 - - One of the key factors allowing the Italian ceramic tile industry to stand out from its international competitors is the fact that alongside its export activities it has also launched increasingly significant international production operations.
Italian tiles sold abroad in 2006 totalled 512.3 million sq.m (the sum of exports from Italy and foreign production controlled by Italian groups), generating a total turnover of 5,034.2 million euro.

Italian exports last year totalled 395.8 million sq.m (+1.41%) accounting for 70% of total sales. In terms of value, exports reached 4,158.3 million euro (+7.62%).
Italy's strongest export performance was in the Baltic region, an area where all countries showed strong growth with increases of between +2.05% in Finland and +26.84% in Latvia. Greece (+4.13%) and France (+1.86%) continued to perform well, but downturns were reported in Germany (-3.63%) and the British Isles (more than -3% on average). Sales also experienced difficulties in Spain and Portugal (-0.5%).

In non-European markets (overall +3.19%), sales performed strongly in Russia (+13.78%), Asia (+2.58%) and Africa (+10.24%), while falls were reported in the United States (-1.35%) and Australia/Oceania (-9.07%) due to the strong competition from producers in the Far East and the recession in the US property market.

Italian production abroad totalled 114.8 million square metres (+13.51%). 74.39% of production took place in European countries, the rest in the United States. Sales amounted to 116.5 million sq.m, corresponding to a total turnover of 875.9 million euro (+25.38%).

As regards product types, 42.1 million square metres of single fired tile were produced (+3.92%); glazed porcelain tile reached 35.5 million square metres (+18.06%); unglazed porcelain tile exceeded 14 million square metres (+31.72%); double fired tile reached 13.1 million square metres (+7.73%); and the "other products" category accounted for 10.1 million square metres (+29.95%).