Italian Tiles Experience a Slow 2007

The Italian ceramic tile industry exhibited two seemingly contradictory trends in 2007. On the one hand the Italian production facilities reported falls in both output and total sales, while on the other the production sites outside Italy achieved increases in both turnover and output.

This is yet another demonstration of the vitality and chameleon-like ability of Italian businesses to adapt to market changes before foreign competitors.

In the year closing 31st December 2007, the Italian tile industry produced 675.5 million sq.m of tiles at 332 facilities owned by 226 companies and generated total revenues of 6,701 million euro at an average price of 9.99 euro/sq.m.

82.7% of production is carried out in Italy and 13.3% in Europe and the United States.
But it is the industrial facilities located in Italy that are the worst hit by the difficult market situation. For the first time in the last 20 years, the Italian industry has seen a simultaneous slowdown in demand from all four of its major outlet markets: Italy, France, the United States and Germany.

These were the main points revealed at the press conference presenting Confindustria Ceramica's 28th National Statistical Survey.

* Production in Italy dropped by 1.67% to 559.1 million sq.m, with porcelain tile remaining the product with the largest volumes.

* Glazed porcelain tile accounted for 45.7% of entire national production at 255.4 million sq.m, while unglazed tile increased by 6% to reach 135.4 million sq.m, or 24.2% of the national total.

*Sales likewise dropped to 547.2 million sq.m (down 3.4% on 2006), falling in both the Italian domestic market (down 1.62% to 167.7 million sq.m) and the export market (down 4.1% to 397.4 million sq.m). The EU market remains the main outlet for Italian products, accounting for almost 56% of sales.

In this area, sales fell in terms of volumes in Germany (-12.8%, the worst result after Ireland), France (-1.7%), Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Holland and Portugal, which were not compensated by the growth in other countries including Spain (+12.7%), Slovenia (+17.3%), Lithuania (+27%), Latvia (+9.1%) and the Czech Republic (+11.3%).

Outside Europe, the sharp downturn (-6.5%) is mainly due to the crisis in the US market (-15.4%), while Russia continues to show strong growth (up 7.5% to 131 million sq.m).