Ceramic Tile And Stone Consultants (CTaSC) provides ceramic tile research and marketing services.  CTaSC can evaluate products and markets to help determine how best to position, promote and distribute your products in the USA.  In addition to the free information below, there is a Comprehensive Ceramic Tile Research Report for the USA Markets that is available that will give you all the details of the Ceramic Tile Industry.  The report provides forecasts and trends, and lists major importers and their foreign suppliers.  For more information click the following:  Ceramic Tile Report

The ceramic tile industry saw its sales more than double over the years up to the current down turn of the US economy, and even after sales have dropped more than 25% in the recent years, there is still a shortage of qualified installers.  We still need to train more tile installers!!!  Most installers never get any formalized training and don’t fully know the industry standards.  We need to train our tile installers!!!  Make sure you require tile installers to be ITS Verified by taking the 4 hour online course to learn the industry standards called “Tile Installer Thin-set Standards (ITS) Verification” course. Visit www.UofCTS.org to learn about online training courses for ceramic tile, glass tile, and stone.

In the Floor Covering Weekly (FCW) 2013 annual statistical report, FCW and Catalina Research reported the following information on the ceramic tile and floor covering industry in USA:

• According to Catalina Research and the U.S. Department of Commerce sales of ceramic tile in 2012 increase from by 6.2 percent to $2.3 billion in wholesale dollars.  In square foot value, ceramic tile consumption in 2012 increased 6.4 percent to 2.2 billion.

• Ceramic tile accounted for 12.5 percent of total U.S. floor coverings dollar sales of $18.76 billion dollars and 12.2 percent of total square foot sales of 18.1 billion square feet.

• Ceramic tile imports rose 5.8 percent in volume to 1,490 million square feet and 8.8 percent in dollars to $1,441 million in 2012.  In 2012 Imports represents 62.7 percent of ceramic tile dollar sales in USA, and 67.7 percent of ceramic tile volume.  Ceramic Tile Imports in 2010 accounted for 54.9% of total ceramic tile wholesale dollar sales compared to 61.1% in 2009 compared to 71.3 percent in 2008 and compared to 87.6 percent in 2007 that was up from 74.7 percent in 2006 that was down from 78.6 percent in 2005, of ceramic tile dollar value.   Import dollar value for 2010 was $1.21 billion up from 2009 that was $1.13 billion, which was down 31% from $1.63 billion in 2008, $1.96 billion in 2007, $2.37 billion in 2006, and $2.26 billion in 2005.  Import volume in 2010 in square feet was 70% of total ceramic tile volume compared to 54.1% of in 2009, compared to 84.1% in 2008, and 82.0% in 2007, and 82.7% in 2006.  Ceramic tile import volume was 1.393 billion square feet in 2010 compared to 1.33 billion in 2009 that was down 30% from 1.68 billion square feet imported in 2008 compared to 2.18 billion square feet in 2007, 2.73 billion square feet in 2006, and 2.64 billion square feet in 2005.

• Ceramic tile exports value rose 6.1 percent in 2012 to $55.7 million dollars.  Export volume increased 6.7 percent in 2012 to $57.3 million square feet.

• Average ceramic tile manufacturer prices have been trending downward between 2008 and 2012.  In 2012, average ceramic tile manufacturer selling prices are estimated to have been $1.06 per square foot, down from $1.14 per square foot in 2008.  Ceramic Tile’s average cost per square foot dropped to $1.01 in 2010 vs. $1.00 in 2009 after rising 5.9% to $1.08 in 2008.  It rose 7.3% to $1.02 in 2007 versus $0.96 in 2006, $0.94 in 2005, $0.91 in 2004, $0.88 in 2003, $0.89 in 2002, $0.92 in 2001, $0.95 in 2000, $0.98 in 1999, $1.02 in 1997, and $1.13 in 1992.

• In 2012 ceramic tile labor was estimated to have reached $6.7 billion dollars with an average gross profit of 30 percent.  This value by far dwarfs the labor dollars from the other floor covering categories putting ceramic tile in second place with a combined labor and material market share of 25.7 percent only below carpet at 35.4 percent.

• The builder market saw a significant rebound in 2012 due to 28.2 percent gain in housing starts.  The surge in starts reflected low interest rates, rising consumer confidence, and the low inventory of new and existing homes for sale.

• In 2012, residential replacement purchases are estimated to account for 56.5 percent of total floor coverings dollar sales.  This is up from 53.4 percent in 2007. Residential replacement dollar sales are estimated to have increased by 4.9 percent in 2012.  Residential replacement sales were stimulated by a 9.4 percent increase in existing home sales as interest rates hit record lows.  This is important, said Catalina, as some 28 percent of buyers of an existing home undertake some type of flooring replacement job in the first year of ownership.

• Floor covering categories market share wholesale dollars are Carpet & Areas Rugs 52.1%, Vinyl sheet & floor tile 12.6%, Ceramic Floor & Wall Tile 12.5%, Laminates 4.8%, Hardwood 10.4%, Stone 5.9%, and other resilient (cork, rubber, other plastics and linoleum) 1.6%.

• Floor covering categories market share in in volume are Carpet & Areas Rugs 56.4%, Vinyl sheet & floor tile 17.8%, Ceramic Floor & Wall Tile 12.2%, Hardwood 5.4%, Laminates 5.3%, Stone 1.6%, other resilient (cork, rubber, other plastics and linoleum) 1.3%.

• Nonresidential floor coverings dollar purchases are estimated to have increased by 3.4 percent in 2012 compared to a 5.5 percent gain for residential markets.  This pushed nonresidential share down to an estimated 31.1 percent in 2012 from 31.5 percent the previous year.

• In 2012, hard surface flooring is estimated to have accounted for 47.9 percent of total dollar industry sales and 43.6 percent of total square foot sales.  This is up from 46.9 percent and 42 percent, respectively, in 2011.  In 2002, hard surface flooring represented only 39.4 percent of total dollar sales and 29.9 percent of total square foot sales.  In addition, consumers have significantly increased their preference for hard surface flooring in non-bedroom areas of their homes.  This has caused demand for wall-to-wall carpet to decline sharply.  Meanwhile, area rug sales continue to grow as consumers purchase areas rugs to accent their new installations of ceramic tile, vinyl sheet, and floor tile and wood flooring.

• Floor Covering’s End Use break down in 2009: Residential total was 64.6% ($11.05 billion) in 2010 vs. 65.9% in 2009 vs. 66.5% in 2008 vs. 69.9% in 2007, up from 67.8% in 2006, of overall market value with the remodel portion at 56.3% in 2010 vs. 54.8% in 2009 vs. 53.4% in 2008 vs. 55.4% in 2007, new homes at 8.0% in 2010 vs. 10.7% in 2009 vs. 12.5% in 2008 vs. 13.8% in 2007.  Commercial total was 35.4% ($5.28 billion) in 2010 vs. 34.1% in 2009 vs. 28.9% in 2008 vs. 25.9% in 2007, down from 30.9% in 2006, with overall market value of new commercial at 12.0% in 2010 vs. 12.2% in 2009 vs. 10.2% in 2008 vs. 9.1% in 2007, and contract commercial at 19.0% in 2010 vs. 17.8% in 2009 vs. 18.7% in 2008 vs. 16.8% in 2007.  Transportation equipment category represented 4.4% in 2010 vs. 4.1% in 2009 vs. 4.6% in 2008 vs. 4.5% in 2007 of the market.

• Based on 2010 numbers, Floor Covering products are distributed through the following channels with the respective market share:  42.8% of sales go through Floor Covering stores, 29.6% of sales go through Home Centers, 13.6% goes through hard surface flooring and ohter building material stores, 1.8% goest through furniture stores, 1.6% goes through depmartment sstores, and10.6% goes through others.

• Ceramic Tile’s End Use break down in 2010 ($1.97 billion wholesale dollars) in residential sales dollars was 56.4% and commercial sales dollars was 43.6%.  New Residential construction was 16.4% in 2010 vs. 26.1% in 2009 vs. 27.0% in 2008 vs. 30.8% in 2007; Residential replacement & repair was 39.5% in 2010 vs. 30.2% in 2009 vs. 29.9% 2008 vs. 29.0% in 2007;  New commercial construction was 25.4% in 2010 vs. 24.8% in 2009 vs. 16.7% in 2008 vs 23.6% in 2007; Commercial contract was 18.0% in 2010 vs. 17.4% in 2009 vs. 25.2% 2008 vs 15.4% in 2007; Factory-built housing was 0.5% in 2010 vs. 1.0% in 2009 0.8% in 2008 vs. 0.8% in 2007; Transportation was 0.2% in 2010 vs. 1.0% in 2009 vs. 0.4% in 2008 vs. 0.4% in 2007.

• Mexico, Italy, China, Spain and Brazil are the biggest exporters of ceramic tile to US in 2010.  Approximately three-fourths of U.S. imports in 2010 (in volume) came from Mexico, Italy and China combined.  Mexico overtook Italy as the largest exporter of tile to U.S. in square footage, but Italy remained the top exporter to the U.S. in dollar value comprising 41.4 percent of U.S. tile imports.  China was the third-largest exporter in the U.S. in both square footage and dollar value.  The value per square foot of all tile imports for 2008 was $1.02, up 6.3 percent from 2007 and up 10.9 percent from 2006.

• Ceramic Tile Per Capita Consumption in 2012 went up to 7.4 from 6.4 square feet per capita in the USA in 2010; compared to 5.8 square feet per capita in 2009 compared to 6.9 in 2008, which was down from 8.8 square-feet in 2007, which  was down from 11.1 square feet in 2005.  Compared to mature markets such as Spain with 36.4 square feet per capita, Italy with 26.0 square feet per capita, Brazil with 35.8 square feet per capita, Canada with 10.65 square feet per capita, and China which had 24.3 square feet per capital, there is still a lot of potential for increase ceramic tile sales in USA.  So the growth potential for ceramic tile in the U.S.A. is still very high and can increase 3 to 7 times or more, leading the way for a very healthy future for all the participants of the ceramic tile industry.  China’s per capita consumption was 24.3 square feet per capita, and considering their 1.324 billion population that gives China 35.8% of the world consumption in 2009.

This page will be updated periodically with the most current and complete information available.