Spanish ceramic industry celebrates recovery at Cevisama

After weak performance in the first half of 2015, the Spanish ceramic industry picked up enough in the second half of the year to revise its full-year forecasts upwards.

So it was with renewed optimism that Spain’s tile manufacturers came to Cevisama, the definitive showcase for Spanish coverings, held in Valencia from 1 to 5 February.

Isidro Zarzoso, Chairman of Ascer, showed clear signs of satisfaction at the press conference for the event, as he announced a 6% increase in turnover for the industry, bringing total revenues up to 3,075 million euros.

And for the first time in eight years, this positive result did not derive exclusively from gradual growth in exports, but also received a boost from the first real upswing in demand from the Spanish market. According to estimates, domestic sales have risen 10% to 630 million euros, although as Zarzoso points out, this figure is still well short (about one third) of 2007 levels. There is no doubt, however, that the Spanish economy is improving, consumer spending is set to rise and investments in renovation projects will rise commensurately, bringing new vigour to the ceramic industry.

While exports rose by 3.3% in the first half of 2015, they picked up sufficient pace in the second half of the year to achieve an end-of-year growth rate of 5%, equating to total export revenues of 2,445 million euros.

However, turnover continued to fall in Eastern Europe (-35% in the period January-November, including -45.7% in Russia) and North Africa (-8.8%, marking an improvement on the -17.6% reported in the first half).

North America, by contrast, saw a further improvement (+32%), including +40% in the USA and +38.2% in Central America, and Oceania reported growth of 35% as against 12% in the first half of the year. With growth of 12% compared with 2014, the European Union (EU 28), confirmed its position as the Spanish tile industry’s largest macro-market. In the first 11 months of 2015, France, the industry’s largest national export market, reported growth of 4%, while the UK (its third largest) saw a rise of 21%. Within Spain’s top ten export markets, Italy put in a particularly good performance, amounting to +24%.

Lastly, despite negative forecasts for the first half of the year (-1.8%), tile production for the full 12 months of 2015 is expected to have risen by 3%, equating to around 438 million square metres. Imports, meanwhile, are estimated to have fallen by 10% compared with 2014.

Ceramic manufacturers have made substantial investments in R&D, in line with their drive to promote the non-conventional use of tiles in non-residential projects, such as façades and urban furnishing.

Photo: credits to Cevisama - click here to visit the full gallery

Read the full article published on Ceramic World Review 115/2016