Wall and floor tile consumption shrank by around 30% this year,to 200m euros, and estimates for next year are not indicating atrend reversal in terms of value. Under the circumstances, players'interest will again focus on reducing stocks of millions of squaremetres piled up starting 2008.
The only producer on the Romanian market, Lasselsberger, andceramic tile distributors will fight next year on a market thatwill continue to fall, mainly targeting a larger market share,reads Business Construct monthly in its 29 October issue. WhereasLasselsberger wants to profit from the fact that it is the onlydomestic market producer and absorb from the sales of importers,which have accumulated stocks and find it unprofitable to bring newproducts, Bulgaria's Kai Group, which arrived in Romania this year,wants to reach 25% market share by 2012 as it has its productionfacilities close to Bucharest. "(...) One of Kai's advantages isthat it can provide high-quality import products at domesticproducer prices," stated Catalin Rotaru, Kai Group's manager forRomania.
Instead, Delta Distribution, the biggest ceramic tiledistributor domestically, has shifted to the luxury segment, a moreprofitable one, even though sales will fall by more than the 30% ithad projected at the start of the year.
Ceramic tile consumption will go down by 30% this year, to 25million square metres, the equivalent of around 200m euros, fromthe 15-20% market players had estimated. Domestic production nowaccounts for just 25% in the market, with the rest covered byimports from countries such as Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, China,Turkey and Egypt.
The low-price segment accounts for more than 50% in the market,with prices ranging between 15 and 25 RON/square metre. On themedium segment, namely 30-35% of the market, prices range between25 and 70 RON/square metre, while on the premium segment, whichaccounts for 15% of the market, prices go beyond 100 RON/squaremetre, according to the data provided by KAI Ceramics.
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