08   Giugno   2016

Italian ceramic industry

Investimenti record a 351,3 milioni di euro, (+22,7%), pari al 6,9% del fatturato. Fatturato supera i 5,1 miliardi di euro (+4,1%). L’internazionalizzazione produttiva vale 792 milioni di euro. Oltre 721,5 milioni di euro il fatturato di ceramica sanitaria, refrattari e stoviglie, con 6.000 addetti

According to statistical surveys for the Italian ceramic industry presented at the 2015 Confindustria Ceramica Members’ Meeting, the 228 ceramic tile, sanitaryware, tableware and refractory materials manufacturing companies in business in 2015 employed a workforce of 25,152 people and reported a total turnover of 5,839 billion euros, 78.9% of which was generated by exports.

Ceramic tiles produced in Italy.
In 2015 there were a total of 150 ceramic tile manufacturers operating in Italy (unchanged with respect to 2014). These companies employed a workforce of 19,143 people (-1.5%), produced 394.8 million square metres of tiles (+3.4%) and posted sales of 396.9 million square metres (+0.6%). Sales in Italy remained stable at 80.3 million square metres (compared to 80.8 million sq.m in 2014), as did exports at 316.6 million sq.m (+0.90%). The total turnover of 5.1 billion euros (+4.1%) consisted of 4.3 billion euros from exports (which grew by 5.1% to reach a record share of 84.4%) and 799 million euros from domestic Italian sales (-0.6%).
Investments reached the highest figure since 2000 at 351.3 million euros (22.7% up on 2014 following 27% growth with respect to 2013), with a value of 6.9% of annual turnover.

Internationalisation of production.
In 2015 there were a total of 16 Italian-owned companies operating outside Italy, the same number as in 2014. Controlled by nine Italian ceramic groups, these companies employed 3,091 people (-3.0%) and produced 82.3 million square metres of tiles (+6.6%). Total turnover amounted to 792.2 million euros (+9.8%), of which 462.3 million euros was generated by operations in Europe (+2.7% to a 58.4% share) and the rest by sales in North America (+21.5%). Although North American sales grew in terms of volumes, they were significantly affected by the fall in the dollar.
78.7% of total turnover (-1.4 percentage points) was generated by sales in the same market where the factory is located.

Ceramic sanitaryware.   
There were a total of 33 ceramic sanitaryware manufacturers operating in Italy in 2015, including 30 located in the Civita Castellana area of the province of Viterbo. The industry employed a total workforce of 3,204 people and produced 3.77 million pieces (+1.4%). Turnover totalled 294.9 million euros (+1.95%), including exports of 132.7 million euros (45% of the total, higher than in previous years).

The refractory materials industry.
The 35 companies producing refractory materials in Italy employed 2,085 people (2.1% fewer than in 2014) and reported a production of 372,935 tons (-11,9%) and sales of 387,040 tons (-10.8%). Domestic sales totalled 244,381 tons (-13.9%), corresponding to 63.1% of total sales volumes.
The total turnover of 379.4 million euros (-7.8%) consisted of 240.9 million euros from domestic Italian sales (-9.7%), 77.2 million euros from exports within the EU (-3.6%) and 61.3 million euros from exports outside the EU (-4.0%).

Ceramic tableware.
The 10 industrial-level Italian companies operating in the sector (1 more than in 2014) employed a total of 720 people (+8.8%) and reported a production of 11,200 tons and sales of 10,700 tons of finished products. Domestic sales made up more than 75% of the total. 2015 turnover stood at more than 47.7 million euros (+6%), about 71% of which was generated in Italy.
One particularly significant development was the introduction of antidumping measures on imports of Chinese tableware to Europe in May 2013, resulting in duties of between 13.1% and 36.1% being applied to Chinese exporters over the subsequent 5 years. This measure led to a 3% decline in 2015 following falls of more than 28.8% the previous year and 40% in 2012.

Comment by Vittorio Borelli
 “The international scenario appears to be experiencing a slight deterioration in its main variables due to the weakening of the dollar, higher oil prices, a slowdown in global GDP and the announced rise in US interest rates,” argued Confindustria Ceramica chairman Vittorio Borelli. “The main item on our international agenda is the anti-dumping action against Chinese imports to Europe. We warmly welcomed the recent unanimous vote by the European Parliament against granting MES to China but we must remain vigilant while awaiting the European Union’s final decision, which is expected by the end of the year.”

Another major issue is that of energy. “As regards the general costs of the electrical energy system, we are stuck in the same situation as 12 months ago,” continued Vittorio Borelli. “Italy has failed to give the go-ahead to the relief already earmarked for energy-intensive companies, whereas Germany has made clear allocation decisions. Our position – in line with the recent statement made by Minister Carlo Calenda – is that the reconfiguration of the relief needs to take account of the propensity for international trade. We also hope that the Minister will take action with regard to cogeneration, a key technology which has clear environmental and competitive benefits but which unfortunately has recently been hit by confused regulatory action. This is creating serious difficulties for plants already in operation and effectively freezes all future investments.”