In 2019, U.S. ceramic tile consumption declined for the first time in a decade to 273.2 million sq.m. (-5,4% on 2018). This affected both the domestic production (83 million sq,m, -4.8%) and imports (193 million sq.m, -5.5%), with China dropping by 36.4%.

The Spanish ceramic tile industry recorded a 4% growth in turnover in 2019 to 3,740 million euros, thanks to the strong performances both on the domestic market (+8) and on the exports markets (+3%). Production fell to 503 million sq.m (-5%)

Tile production in Bangladesh has grown by 150% in the space of just 5 years, reaching 119 million sq.m in 2018. DBL Ceramics stands among the local largest ceramic tile producers.

With an installed capacity already in excess of 40 million pieces/year, India is the world’s second largest sanitaryware producer. 75% of production comes from Gujarat.

In 2019, production and sales remained stagnant at 409 million sq.m.  Non-European markets saw the biggest falls, while the domestic market made a slight recovery.

With a production of about 114 million sq.m, Nigeria is now the second largest tile producer in Africa, with 8 manufacturing companies, of which 6 financed entirely by Chinese capital

Production and exports will continue to grow. The new challenge comes from the introduction of 42.9% antidumping duties on Indian tiles in the Gulf States.

From 2015 to 2018, Turkish ceramic tile exports have grown steadily to 100 million sqm, representing 30% of national production.

With the adoption of countervailing and antidumping duties on Chinese tile imports in the US, the race is on for both US tile manufacturers and all the other supplying countries to win a slice of the 64.3 million sq.m of Chinese products.

Christophe Callon, Purchase & Marketing manager at Saint Gobain Building Distribution Tiles & Flooring and CEO of Decoceram, explains the changes in the European flooring market and in the distribution of ceramic tiles. 

Roca, Kohler, Geberit and Toto lead the rankings of the world ceramic sanitaryware manufacturers by volumes of production in 2018. See who is next.

Acimac Research Dept. updates the yearly analysis of the world ceramic sanitaryware imports/exports flows. In 2018 sanitaryware exports continued to rise with 9.4% growth on 2017, marking a positive trend in all geographical areas of production.