Economics and markets

As announced at the 84th Euroconstruct Conference in Munich on 24 November 2017, construction volume in the Euroconstruct area is expected to grow by 3.5% in 2017. 

The Spanish tile production has grown by 8% in 2017 to 530 million sq.m. Total sales have reached 3,520 million euros (+7%).

Housing is one of the sectors to receive funding along with educational and healthcare buildings.

The country is seeing a growing number of sustainable projects and applications for LEED certification.

Acimac Research Dept. updates the yearly analysis of the world ceramic sanitaryware import/export flows. In 2016 they fell to 2.8 million tonnes (-1.4%), mainly due to the contraction of Chinese exports (-7.4%).

A major factor is the rapid development of the middle classes which already make up half of the country’s population.

According to the preliminary figures published by the Acimac Research Department, the sector’s turnover has risen by 9% to 2.2 million euros. The Industry 4.0 Plan tax incentives are driving investments in Italy (+21.5%).

Borelli (Confindustria Ceramica): "An essential measure to protect Italian companies and ensure a level international playing field."

Oman has launched its national development plan with total investments of US $106 billion.

According to the report published at the 83rd Euroconstruct Conference held in Amsterdam in June this year, the European construction industry is forecast to increase by 2.9% in 2017 and by 2.4% in 2018.

Acimac Research Dept. anticipates to Ceramic World Review the key figures of the 5th edition of the annual report "World production and consumption of ceramic tiles".

Mohawk Industries (USA), SCG (Thailand) and Lamosa (Mexico) lead once again the rankings. Good results were also posted by Vitromex (Mexico), Pamesa and STN (Spain), Kajaria (India) and Arwana Citramulia (Indonesia).

The trade magazines Tile Italia and Tile International take a picture of the top 30 Italian ceramic tile manufacturers in 2016.

The Indian construction industry is set to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 4.16% from now to 2021, an improvement on the 3.95% annual growth recorded over the period 2012-2016.

Public and private residential building, investments in tourism and industry, and large-scale projects for Expo 2020 are driving the construction sector in the UAE.

Chinese tile exports fell for the third year running (-5.9% in 2016).

All-time record turnover driven by growth in both the Italian domestic market (+4.5%) and exports (+1.6%). Strong outlook for the current year with first quarter turnover growth of 13.3%.

The “100 mil Viviendas + Trabajo” programme launched by the Argentine government in March involves a partnership between the public sector, private building firms and banks.

The Italian tile industry has closed 2016 with record investments of 400 million euros (+14%), a turnover of 5.4 billion euros (+5.9%) and a national production of 416 million m2 (+5.4%).

The new Acimac’s study shows a significant growth in EBITDA and net profits. The best performances were posted by companies with turnovers of between 10 and 40 million € and in the fields of digital decoration and finishing machines.