Despite slower growth across its main trading partners and spectre of Brexit hanging over the nation, Ireland’s economy continues to outperform even the most optimistic of expectations.

2018 marked the 11th consecutive year of contraction for the Italian brick and tile industry, bringing the total decline since 2007 to 78%.

Acimac Research Dept. anticipates to Ceramic World Review the key figures of the 7^th edition of the annual report “World production and consumption of ceramic tiles”.

Following the +3.1% achieved in 2018, the European construction industry’s growth is expected to fall to around +1.9% this year and to +1.5% over the following two years.

Mohawk Industries (USA), SCG (Thailand) and Lamosa (Mexico) lead once again the rankings. Total 2018 tile production of the 25 largest world groups amounted to around 1.80 billion sq.m, 13,7% of world tile production.

African production and consumption of ceramic tiles continue to rise, as well as imports from India and Spain, while imports from China registered a sharp slowdown in 2018.

The magazine Tile Italia has published the rankings of the largest Italian ceramic tile manufacturers updated to 31/12/2018.

In 2018 the African construction industry saw a real boom. with the number of projects increasing by 60%.  del 60% per numero di progetti. Egypt is the country topping the rankings.

By the year 2030 Africa will have 17 cities with more than 5 million inhabitants.

The decline in investments in the construction sector in many countries worldwide has also affected manufacturers of capital goods for the ceramic industry. The industry’s revenue has fallen by 3.5% to 2.1 billion euros. Exports have been the worst hit with a 4.3% decline.

According to figures unveiled by Confindustria Ceramica for the performance of the three sectors in 2018, refractories and tableware performed well but the sanitaryware industry saw a downturn.

Tile production dropped to 415 million sq.m (-1.6%), while the sector’s turnover fell by 3% to 5.4 billion euros. Investments in technology remained very high at more than 500 million euros.