2014 FCN Ceramic Tile Statistics Summary

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 had dropped more than 25% in the recent previous 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 News (FCN), volume 30/number 1, 2015 annual statistical report dated June 29, 2015 they reported the following information on the ceramic tile and floor covering industry in USA:

Ceramic tile accounted for 12.1 percent of total U.S. floor coverings dollar sales of $19.6 billion dollars and 11.2 percent of total square foot sales of 18.0 billion square feet.  Ceramic sales in dollars were up 6.2% in 2014 to $2.38 billion.  Volume was up only 0.5% to 1.99 billion square feet.

Ceramic floor tile imports rose in volume to 1.71 billion square feet and in dollars to $1.67 billion in 2014.  In 2014 Imports represents 70.0 percent of ceramic tile dollar sales in USA, and 68.7 percent of ceramic tile volume.  Domestic production made up the other 31.3%.  Italy, China and Mexico represented more than 75% of the dollar value of ceramic tile imports sold in the U.S.  Based on value Italy was the top exporter to the U.S. with 34.8% of imports; China was next at 25.7% followed by Mexico at 16.5%, Spain at 10%, Turkey at 4%, and Brazil at 3% of U.S. importers.   Mexico was the largest exporter in terms of volume at 29.5% of U.S. imports; China was next at 29.4%, followed by Italy at 18.1%, Spain at 6%, and Turkey at 4.3% of import volume.  *These numbers represent only floor tile, which is estimated by most to be about 80% of the ceramic category.

Nearly all U.S. manufacturers of ceramic tile import product to supplement their domestic production.  So almost 50% of all tile that was sold in the U.S. in 2014 was from a company with a U.S. Manufacturing plant.

Residential remodeling segment made up 47% of tile consumption in 2014, while the commercial segment made up 28%, and new residential construction segment made up 25% of ceramic tile sales. Within the new residential segment approximately 75% of the sales are in single-family homes and 25% in multi-family homes.   In the commercial segment there were three key categories that led this segment, which were retail, hospitality, and assisted living health care facilities.

In terms of distribution of ceramic tile, independent distributors account for approximately 44% of distribution.  Home centers represent 39% and manufacturer owned stores represent 17% of ceramic tile distribution.   It is estimated that there are 18,334 tile contractors and dealers, 1,370 tile distributors, and 7,805 home center locations in 2014.

New home construction was inconsistent and down, which affects floor covering sales.  Single-family housing starts were 11% lower than initially forecasted, which left the industry with low growth of 3.6% in dollars and 1.8% in volume.

In 2014, residential sales of floor coverings was estimated to account for 65.6 percent and commercial sales represented 34.4 percent of of total floor coverings dollar sales.   Ceramic tile represented 10.9% market share of the commercial floor covering market, and 26.6% market share of the commercial hard surfaces category.

Floor covering categories market share wholesale dollars are Carpet 44.9%, Rugs 12.3%, Resilient 12.2%, Ceramic Floor Tile 12.5%, Wood 9.9%, Laminates 5.8%, and Rubber 2.8%.

Floor covering categories market share in in volume are Carpet & Areas Rugs 62.1%, Resilient 15.1%, Ceramic Floor Tile 11.2%, Laminates 6.0%, Wood 4.3%,  Stone 1.6%, and Rubber 1.3%.

Ceramic Tile Per Capita Consumption in 2014 went up to 7.6 square feet per capita in the USA.  Compared to mature markets such as Spain with 25 square feet per capita, Italy with 19 square feet per capita, Brazil with 44 square feet per capita, Canada with 10.65 square feet per capita, and China which had 34 square feet per capital.  So the growth potential for ceramic tile in the U.S.A. is still very high and can increase 5 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 34 square feet per capita, and considering their 1.351 billion population that gives China over 35% of the world consumption in 2014.

These and other findings were uncovered in the July 2015 Catalina Report on Ceramic Tile Products. This in-depth 200 page industry investigation covers all aspects of this industry including manufacturing, distribution, installation, industry trends and the economic outlook.  For more information and pricing on the July 2015 Ceramic Tile Product Report go to our Marketing Report section on this website. Click Here.