Italian tiles experience a slow 2007

The Italian ceramic tile industry exhibited two seemingly contradictory trends in 2007. On the one hand the Italian production facilities reported falls in both output and total sales, while on the other the production sites outside Italy achieved increases in both turnover and output.
This is yet another demonstration of the vitality and chameleon-like ability of Italian businesses to adapt to market changes before foreign competitors.
In the year closing 31 December 2007, the Italian tile industry produced 675.5 million sq.m of tiles at 332 facilities owned by 226 companies and generated total revenues of 6,701 million euro at an average price of 9.99 euro/sq.m.
82.7% of production is carried out in Italy and 13.3% in Europe and the United States.

But it is the industrial facilities located in Italy that are the worst hit by the difficult market situation. For the first time in the last 20 years, the Italian industry has seen a simultaneous slowdown in demand from all four of its major outlet markets: Italy, France, the United States and Germany.

These were the main points revealed at the press conference presenting Confindustria Ceramica’s 28th National Statistical Survey.

Production in Italy dropped by 1.67% to 559.1 million sq.m, with porcelain tile remaining the product with the largest volumes. Glazed porcelain tile accounted for 45.7% of entire national production at 255.4 million sq.m, while unglazed tile increased by 6% to reach 135.4 million sq.m, or 24.2% of the national total.

Sales likewise dropped to 547.2 million sq.m (down 3.4% on 2006), falling in both the Italian domestic market (down 1.62% to 167.7 million sq.m) and the export market (down 4.1% to 397.4 million sq.m). The EU market remains the main outlet for Italian products, accounting for almost 56% of sales.
In this area, sales fell in terms of volumes in Germany (-12.8%, the worst result after Ireland), France (-1.7%), Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Holland and Portugal, which were not compensated by the growth in other countries including Spain (+12.7%), Slovenia (+17.3%), Lithuania (+27%), Latvia (+9.1%) and the Czech Republic (+11.3%).

Outside Europe, the sharp downturn (-6.5%) is mainly due to the crisis in the US market (-15.4%), while Russia continues to show strong growth (up 7.5% to 131 million sq.m).

Another indicator reflecting the sector’s sluggish performance is that of warehouse stock, which at the end of December was up by 11.5 million sq.m to 246 million sq.m, 44% of national production.

Another significant factor is the approximately 2.5 million sq.m increase in tile imports to Italy, reaching a volume of 22.7 million sq.m.

Turnover held strong to reach 5,784.7 million euro (0.75% up on 2006). Exports contributed 4,183.6 million euro (up 0.61% to 72.3% of the total) while the Italian market reached 1,601.1 million euro (up 1.1% to 27.7% of the total).
A critical factor in achieving these results was the steady growth in average prices, which notched up a further 4.2% increase in 2007 to reach 10.6 euro/sq.m.
In addition to an improvement in supply mix, the rise in average prices was also a response to the 5.2% increase in costs in 2007, most significantly energy and commercial costs.

Investments increased, underscoring Italian companies’ determination to continue to lead the field in terms of product innovation. Investments amounted to 5.2% of total turnover, up by 18.14%. A further increase is expected this year, with a value likely to exceed 321 million euro at the end of 2008. The main areas of plant investment include solutions for increasing the flexibility and efficiency of production and new technologies for decoration and large formats. The trend towards conducting some stages of auxiliary operations internally continued.


As of 31 December 2007 there were 206 companies, 300 factories and 641 active kilns in Italy (30 fewer than the previous year, due partly to a reduction in production capacity and partly to an increase in productivity of individual lines).

This theme will be explored in greater detail in the June and September issues of the magazines published by Tile Edizioni, namely Ceramic World Review, Tile Italia and Tile International.