Ceramic Tile Consumption Declined 1.3% in Square Feet in 2022

April 18, 2023 from Floor Focus FloorDaily News

Clemson, SC, April 18, 2023 – With the U.S. residential sector slowed by rising mortgage rates and inflation, supply chain issues, and labor shortages, the U.S. ceramic tile market experienced a slight downturn last year.

Total U.S. ceramic tile consumption in 2022 was 3.07 billion square feet, down 1.3% from the previous year.

After reaching a 15-year high in 2021, U.S. imports decreased by volume in 2022. The 2.18 billion square feet of tile imported last year represented a 2.3% decline from 2021.

Spain remained the largest exporter of ceramic tile to the U.S. in 2022 despite its exports’ falling 12.8% by volume vs. the previous year. Spanish imports in 2022 held a 19.8% share of total U.S. imports by volume, down from a 22.2% share in 2021.

Italy was the second largest exporter to the U.S. in 2022 by volume, although Italian ceramic tile exports declined 2.9% from 2021. Italian tile comprised 17.3% of the U.S. import market last year, down slightly from 17.4% in 2021.

Mexico was the third largest exporter to the U.S. in 2022 with a 16.6% share of total U.S. imports. Tile imports from Mexico were up 1.0% by volume vs. 2021.

With a 13.0% share of 2022 imports, India became the fourth largest exporter to the U.S., up from sixth position the previous year and its all-time highest position.

Turkey rounded out the list of top five exporters to the U.S. with a 12.3% share in 2022, down from 13.5% in 2021.

U.S. manufacturers shipped 889.2 million square feet of ceramic tile domestically in 2022, a 1.0% increase from the preceding year.

U.S. shipments’ share of total U.S. consumption was 28.9% by volume in 2022, up from 28.3% the prior year. Domestically produced tiles’ share of total consumption was much higher than the shares of any individual country exporting to the U.S., with the next highest shares of total consumption belonging to Spain (14.1%), Italy (12.3%), and Mexico (11.8%).

U.S. FOB factory sales of domestic shipments in 2022 were $1.48 billion, an 8.6% increase from 2021. U.S. shipments were 33.4% of total 2022 U.S. tile consumption by value, down from 35.2% in 2021. This decrease in domestic market share by value was due in large part to the rising freight costs for imports, which helped push 2022 U.S. imports’ value up 17.5% from the previous year.

The per unit value of domestic shipments was $1.66/square foot last year, up from $1.54/square foot in 2021.

U.S. ceramic tile exports in 2022 were 50.8 million square feet, a 33.6% increase from the previous year and the highest total on record. The countries receiving the lion’s share of these exports by volume were our North American neighbors, Canada (70.5%) and Mexico (19.0%).

U.S. exports by value in 2022 were $52.6 million, up 30.1% from 2021.