World sanitaryware imports and exports (2020)

Luca Baraldi, MECS / Acimac Research Dept.

Acimac Research Dept. / MECS updates the yearly analysis of the world ceramic sanitaryware imports/exports flows. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, global sanitaryware exports suffered a 5% contraction on 2019, a downturn observed in all geographical areas of production.

World ceramic sanitaryware import/export flows grew by 53% from 2.16 million to 3.3 million tonnes over the period 2010-2020, corresponding to a compound annual growth rate of 4.3%. The positive trend that lasted for almost the entire decade came to a halt in 2020, the year of the pandemic, when exports fell by 5% compared to 2019. This downturn was observed in practically all geographical areas of production.

Asia further consolidated its position as the largest world sanitaryware exporter, maintaining its share of world exports at 62.6% despite a 4.8% fall to 2.1 million tonnes. This decline was the combined result of contractions experienced by all the major Asian exporters, namely China, India, Thailand and Vietnam.

Exports from the European Union, the world’s second largest exporter, also fell by 9.7% to 489,000 tonnes. The 6.5% increase recorded in Poland (which has become the largest sanitaryware exporter in the EU at 83,000 tonnes) was not sufficient to compensate for the declines in Germany (-5.6%) and Portugal (-19.8%). The only area of the planet where sanitaryware exports remained in positive territory was North America (NAFTA), which reached 368,000 tonnes (up 0.7% on 2019), almost entirely shipped from Mexico. After a decade of steady growth, in 2020 exports from non-EU European countries also fell slightly for the first time (-0.8% to 235,000 tonnes), despite a fresh increase in exports from Turkey. Next came South America (79,000 tonnes, -9.2%) and Africa (64,000 tonnes, -14.5%), both of which also recorded a drop in exports.

The 2020 ranking of the top 10 exporter countries saw Italy exit and Russia enter in tenth place (up 3.9% on 2019), while several other countries changed positions. Only 3 countries saw an increase in sanitaryware exports compared to 2019.

China continued to top the rankings in 2020 with 1.70 million tonnes (up from 902,000 tonnes in 2010, equivalent to a CAGR of +6.5%), despite seeing the first decline (down 2.8% on 2019). China alone accounted for 82% of Asian exports and 59% of world exports.

Mexico, the second largest exporter country with an 11.6% share of global exports, suffered a 0.8% fall in its exports in 2020 to 333,000 tonnes, again bringing to an end a decade-long growth trend. Despite a 13.9% contraction on 2019 to 172,000 tonnes, India remained in third place followed by Turkey with 166,000 tonnes (up 0.9% on 2019) and Thailand, while Poland overtook Portugal, Germany and Vietnam to reach sixth place in the ranking. Overall, the 10 largest sanitaryware exporter countries accounted for 84% of global exports.

Read the complete article published in Ceramic World Review 144/2021