CWR Persian 37 - 2019

editorial
by Majid Mohassesian - ceo@cwr.ir
The 10-year Evolution of
Tile and Ceramic Industry in Iran
Over the past decade, from 2008 to 2018, economic
and political conditions, and consequently, the
manufacturing industries of Iran have undergone
many ups and downs. Global changes of oil price
and the income and GDP index increase in Iran on
one hand, and imposition of international sanctions
and its resolution by the approval of Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the other hand,
have caused unpredictable conditions for manufacturers.
In the last political developments related to the unilateral
sanctions by the United States which initiated
since late 2017, turbulence in financial markets
and alteration of their regulations were once again
exacerbated.
Although it is not easy to predict the status of industry
in the years ahead, evaluating the process
of changes in the main economic parameters of tile
and ceramic industry over the past 10 years may be
considered as the guideline for industry managers’
crucial decisions.
Major changes are observed in reviewing the global
statistics from 2008 up to now for manufacturing,
consumption, and export sectors. Over the past
10 years, manufacturing in Iran has increased from
320 million sq. m. in 2008, ranked 6th globally, to
its maximum value 500 million sq. m. in 2011 and
2012, ranked 4th globally. It was then significantly
reduced to 383 million sq. m. in 2018, dropped
5 levels and was ranked 8th among the manufacturing
countries of the world. Overall, the tile and
ceramic industry of Iran had a 20 percent growth
rate over the past decade.
In 2008, domestic consumption with a value of 265
million sq. m. was ranked 3rd globally after China
and India. It had an uptrend to 400 million sq. m. in
2011. However, it had a downtrend afterwards, such
that it was ranked 10th globally in 2018, with a value
of 230 million sq. m. As a result, annual consumption
of tiles and ceramics had a 13 percent drop
over the past 10 years.
Export statistics of Iran, however, was much different,
indicating a continuous relative growth. In
2008, Iran exported over 27 million sq. m., or 8.5%,
of its products and was ranked 11th globally. Afterwards,
export was rapidly increased to 151 million
sq. m., or about 40% of production in 2018, and
was 5.5 times more than that in the last 10 years.
This is while the average rate of export, relative to
the domestic production, is 24% in the countries of
the world. Currently, Iran possesses 6% of tile and
ceramic export share in the world, ranked 5th after
China, Italy, Spain and India.
The most notable point about export is its value
which has decreased 30% over this decade. The
average value of tile and ceramic export products
in Iran in 2008 was about 4 dollars, while it has decreased
to 2.82 dollars per sq. m. at the present
time. Analysis of the last statistics released by the Islamic
Republic of Iran Customs Administration indicates
that more than 80 percent of products was exported
to two countries. Having purchased about
100 million sq. m. of export products, Iraq possesses
66% of Iran’s export share, with an average
rate of 2.78 dollars. Ranked second is Pakistan
with 14% export share and a very low average rate
of 2.68 dollars per sq. m.
According to the above statistics and the termination
of the periodical five-year downfall of domestic
market of construction as well as the developments
in housing market from the late 2018 up to now, a
major growth in manufacturing rate can be predicted
for 2019, and export growth will continue with
the same pace. Similarly, some of the international
economic institutions of the world have evaluated
the year 2020 as the cessation of the current negative
trend, along with relative economic growth in
Iran. ×
CWR Persian 37/2019 5