19th WCTF, Ukraine

27-30 June 2012 in Sevastopol, Ukraine

The 19th World Ceramic Tiles Forum (WCTF) was hosted by the Ukrainian Association of Ceramics from 27 to 30 June 2012. Over 40 representatives of the ceramic tiles industry worldwide gathered in Sevastopol, Ukraine, to discuss matters of common interest.

The World Ceramic Tiles Manufacturers’ Forum was created in 1994 and is the annual meeting of the ceramic tiles manufacturers worldwide. With actively participating countries such as Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and the USA, the participation has continuously been growing over the last years.

This year's WCTF revealed global trends in consumption and production and provided an update on recent actions taken in standardisation both at national and international level. Moreover, this session of the Forum gave its members the opportunity to address the urgent need for a review of the “Harmonised System” codes used at customs and for trade statistics concerning ceramic tiles.

As a matter of fact the production of ceramic tiles has constantly grown over the last decade to almost 9.7 billion square meters, a plus of over 77%. The increased consumption in the last decade and the rise in the post-crisis years 2010 and 2011 are good news for the industry and reflect the growing demand for ceramic tiles in today’s society. Mr. Cafiero, Director General of Confindustria Ceramica (It), reported a boost by 79.1% between 2001 and 2011 (see chart).

Global consumption of ceramic tiles 2000-2011 | Source: Confindustria Ceramica

In the field of international standardisation (ISO), the US delegation, which is holding the secretariat of ISO TC 189, updated the members of the ongoing work on tiles specifications (WG2), test methods and specifications for installation products (WG3), backer board test (WG5) and anti-bacterial activity of ceramic coverings (WG8). In addition, the Italian delegation presented the latest developments in relation to test methods (WG1), thin tiles (WG4) and the sustainability of tiling systems (WG7).  The next meeting of ISO TC 189 on ceramic tiles will meet in Nagoya, Japan, from 12 to 14 November 2012.

Most importantly, the WCTF thoroughly evaluated the codes currently applicable to ceramic tiles at customs and in international trade statistics.  The members for the World Forum unanimously acknowledged the need to engage into the process to review the old codes (HS 6907/6908), which are considered as inadequate, unreliable and no longer in line with the reality of the production and markets. The aim of the World Forum members is to have these concerns addressed under the 5th HS review cycle of the World Customs Organization starting in November 2012.

Participants also agreed to develop a WCTF website to enhance the visibility of the ceramic tiles industry at international level. The WCTF is a platform open to all ceramic tiles manufacturers in the world.  Any producer or association of ceramic tiles producers willing to participate is invited to contact the WCTF secretariat.

The WCTF will hold its 20th session in Brazil from 6 to 9 November 2013.

18th WCTF, Mexico

18-20 October 2011 in Mexico City, Mexico

The 18th edition of the World Ceramic Tiles Forum took place in Mexico City, between 18 and 20 October 2011. 

The Forum has been growing every year, with 13 countries present in this edition. Argentina and the United Arab Emirates joined for the first time this year older members such as Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States. Ceramic tiles is one of the few industries to have a forum of meetings and discussions at worldwide level, the countries represented in the World Forum account for 90% of the global ceramic tile production.

The 2011 meeting was chaired by Alfonso Panzani, as President of the World Ceramic Tiles Forum. The five main themes of discussion were the global trends in ceramic tiles production and consumption, the status of trade liberalisation in the ceramic tiles industry, international standardisation and industry initiatives to promote ceramic tiles and the sustainability of ceramic tiles.

One of the main conclusions of this meeting was that the Forum should have a more active and decision making position and become more than just a place to exchange information. The Forum should achieve common agreements, even if not all the countries feel fully satisfied with them. In order to achieve these goals members feel the need to have a better work structure for the Forum, with dedicated resources working during the whole year to receive information from countries and structure the discussions. This way, participants would be able to give direct input on proposals, common propositions and shared ideas.

To conclude, Mr Alfonso Panzani underlined the role that the World Ceramic Tile Forum should play as developer of the industry. The Chairman also stressed the fact that very good results can come out if all the participants work towards a common goal. Mr Panzani adapted the words of John Kennedy to synthesise the 2011 edition saying that ceramic tile manufacturers should question "what we can do for our industry and not what the industry can do for us".

This year’s edition of the World Ceramic Tile Forum will be held in Kiev, Ukraine, from 27 June to 1 July 2012. For the CET members the Annual Meeting will be held on 26 and 27 June also in Kiev, in order to allow CET members to attend both events.

17th WCTF, Indonesia

30 June - 1 July 2010 in Jakarta, Indonesia

On Wednesday 30 June and Thursday 1 July 2010, the World Ceramic Tiles Forum gathered in Jakarta for its 17th session. This year’s session of the Forum was hosted by ASAKI, the Indonesian Ceramic Industry Association.

The 17th Forum session involved the representatives of the ceramic tiles industry in Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine and the USA. Altogether, these countries represent the very large majority of worldwide production in wall and floor tiles. 

16th WCTF, Taiwan

4-7 November 2009 in Taipei, Taiwan

On Thursday 5 November, the World Ceramic Tiles Manufacturers’ Forum gathered in Taipei for its 16th session. 

This year’s session involved the representatives of the ceramic tiles industry in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Spain, Taiwan and the USA. Altogether, these countries represent the large majority of the worldwide production in wall and floor tiles.

The main aspects tackled at the Forum’s General Assembly covered global trends in consumption and production, the impact of the economic and financial crisis on the sector and the persistence of tariff and technical barriers to trade.  Most importantly, the Forum focussed on environment and climate change related policies or tools.

Global trends in production:  World production has been constantly rising over the last years with an estimate of 5,7 billion m2 in 2001 increasing to 8,2 billion m2 in 2007.   The world production rose to 8,5 billion m2 in 2008 but is expected to remain at the same level in 2009.  While tiles consumption is continuing to grow in Asia, regions including Europe, Japan and the USA have shown very significant decreases in 2008.  Due to the economic and financial crisis these decreases will further accentuate in 2009 with sales decreasing from 20% to 50% in some countries.   The biggest producer in 2008 was by far China followed by Brazil, Italy and Spain. 

Constant rate of technical barriers to trade:  Technical barriers to trade under the form of diverging standards or disproportionate tariffs have traditionally been widely used in this sector in order to protect domestic industries.  This trend remains unchanged and is even more harmful to the industry in a situation of economic crisis. 

Coordination on environmental standards and environmental protection:  In spite of this difficult context, the industry continues to adapt to the rapid changes in demand notably through innovation and the adaptation of international standards.  Moreover, this session of the Forum allowed for the first time at international level extensive exchanges of information on how environmental protection and measures against climate change are being addressed by the industry in different parts of the world.  More particularly, the Forum members discussed developments in energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, environmental labelling and green public procurement. 

As stated in his conclusions by Mr. Schäfer, Chairman of the Forum, “it is extremely important that tiles manufacturers cooperate more at international level on environmental protection, technical standards and barriers to trade”.  The Forum gathers every year more tiles manufacturing countries and is offering a platform for this cooperation.

The 17th session of the Forum will be hosted by Indonesia in Jakarta from Wednesday 30 June to Saturday 3 July 2010.