Economic Observer Network reporter Zhang RuiOn June 18, Gong Wei, secretary-general of the China Building and Sanitary Ceramics Association, said in his speech at the "Going abroad and iteration" theme forum of the 2024 China Ceramics Industry Development Conference that in the past In more than two years, the situation in China and the global ceramic industry has changed so much and so fast that practitioners are at a loss as to what to do. Under this situation, a large number of Chinese investors have set their sights overseas and opened up new blue ocean markets by exporting equipment, production capacity, and technology overseas.
“The production capacity of the ceramic tile production lines newly built by Chinese ceramics people overseas has exceeded the largest decline in China’s ceramic tile exports (in recent years) (corresponding to the output).” Gong Wei believes that this is both a great development for the Chinese ceramic industry and Opportunities are also challenges. According to statistics from the China Building and Sanitary Ceramics Association, from 2016 to 2023, China's ceramic tile export volume dropped from 1,074.074 million square meters to 618.09.4 square meters, and the export value dropped from approximately US$5.53 billion to approximately US$4.86 billion.
(Picture above: Statistics on China’s ceramic tile export volume and export value from 2016 to 2023)
The China Building and Sanitary Ceramics Association analyzed the operation of China's building ceramics industry in 2022 and 2023 and pointed out that since 2020, my country's ceramic tile exports have roughly hovered around 600 million square meters. Affected by many factors, my country's ceramic tiles Exports have basically been unable to return to pre-epidemic levels. The association believes that in recent years, the total export volume of my country's ceramic tiles has shrunk for several reasons: on the one hand, due to anti-dumping investigations initiated by many countries, the competitive advantage of my country's ceramic tiles in the international market has weakened; on the other hand, Chinese ceramic companies have established overseas factories to meet the needs of some international markets; in addition, with the rise of other ceramic producing countries, China's global ceramic output has dropped from more than 70% at its peak to less than 50%.
However, the China Building and Sanitary Ceramics Association also stated that in 2023, the export unit price of ceramic tiles will be US$7.86/square meter. Although it has dropped from the historical high of US$8.53/square meter in 2022, it is still significantly higher than in 2022 except for 2022. year other than year. Comparing the changes in the export unit price of the world's major ceramic exporting countries in recent years, my country's export unit price has increased rapidly, reflecting that my country's export products have gradually withdrawn from the low-end market dominated by price wars and climbed towards the high end of the value chain.
Gong Wei also emphasized in his speech that although the domestic production and sales situation continues to decline, ceramic companies feel heavy operating pressure and are full of confusion about future development. However, we must also note that China's status as the world's largest ceramic tile producer and consumer is still stable, and companies that adapt to the development needs of the times still have huge room for development.
On the same day, the conference also released survey data on ceramic industry production capacity, saying that in ten yearsIn 2014, the number of Chinese ceramic manufacturers reached 1,452, with 3,440 ceramic tile production lines and a production capacity of nearly 14 billion square meters. In 2022, the number of Chinese ceramic manufacturers has reduced to 1,040, and is expected to further reduce to less than 1,000 this year. .
