World production and consumption of ceramic tiles (2021)

The tenth edition of the study entitled “World production and consumption of ceramic tiles” produced by MECS / Acimac Research Centre is due to be published in October. Consisting of almost 300 pages of charts, tables and commentary, the study provides detailed analysis of the trends occurring over the ten-year period to 2021 in terms of industry, markets, per capita consumption and export flows in geographical macro-regions and in the 81 largest tile producer, consumer, exporter and importer countries. ( → MORE INFO HERE)

The major new feature of this year’s study is the in-depth review of the 10-year historical series for tile production and consumption in India based on extensive market analysis conducted by MECS and involving more than 800 companies operating solely in the Morbi district in Gujarat, whose contribution to national production had until now been underestimated. The review of the Indian data resulted in a corresponding update of the overall time series.

Sharp increase of the world tile production

In 2021, world tile production reached 18,339 million sqm, up 7.2% from the 17,101 million sqm recorded in 2020. The result reflects the strong increase of tile demand in all geographical areas, which brought world tile consumption growing to 18,209 million sqm (+6.8%).

Production in Asia grew by 4.9% to 13.6 billion sqm, equivalent to 74% of global production. this positive result was mainly due to the increase in volumes produced in China, India and Indonesia, which offset the sharp contraction experienced in Vietnam.

The European continent produced a total of 2,124 million sqm (11.6% of world production). Production saw double-digit growth both in the European Union (+18% to 1,393 million sqm) and in non-EU Europe (+14.6% to 731 million sqm) driven by the sharp increase in Turkey.

Production in the American continent grew strongly to 1,737 million sqm. The growth rate in North America was 17.4% (377 million sqm), while Central and South America saw the biggest increase, +24.5% to 1,360 million sqm. The only area to experience a contraction in 2021 was Africa, where production dropped to 888 million sqm (-3.3%) due to steep declines in Algeria and to a lesser extent Nigeria which outweighed the increases in all other countries on the continent.

Global Exports exceeds 3 billion sq.m

In 2021, global exports rose by 8.7% to 3 billion sqm, approximately 244 million sqm more than in 2020. Here too, the recovery involved all geographical areas. Asia’s exports grew to 1,414 million sqm (+2%), equivalent to 47% of the world total.

The European Union’s exports rose sharply (1,055 million sqm; +14.3%) and amounted to 35% of the global total. Non-EU European countries also performed well (231 million sqm; +12.3%), largely due to growth in Turkish exports.

Exports also grew in Central and South America (183 million sqm; +36.3%), North America (45 million sqm; +10.7%) and Africa (85 million sqm; +4.6%).

As for the export propensity of the various continents or macro-regions, the European Union remained the area with the highest export share in 2021 at 75.7% of its production. All the other areas lagged well behind.

In 2021, Spain regained second place in the ranking of the world’s largest exporting countries, while India dropped to third place.

Read the complete article published in Ceramic World Review no 148/2022