Anderson, S.C.—The Tile Council of North America (TCNA) released its U.S. tile consumption Q3 findings during today’s Coverings Connected event. Tile through Q3 2020, hampered by an economy struggling with the pandemic, was at 2.04 billion square feet, down 11.6% vs. the same timeframe in 2019, according to TCNA findings.
At the current pace, U.S. ceramic tile consumption for 2020 would be 2.60 billion square feet, down from 2.94 billion square feet the previous year, and the lowest point for the market since 2014.
Imports
Through 3Q 2020, 1.38 billion square feet of ceramic tile arrived in the U.S., down 15.8% from 3Q 2019 YTD. Imports through 3Q 2020 comprised 67.9% of U.S. tile consumption (by volume), down from 70.6% in 2019.
Spain was the largest exporter to the U.S. (3Q 2020 YTD) with a 20.7% share of U.S. imports (by volume), followed by Mexico (17.6%) and Italy (17.2%).
Italy remained the largest exporter to the US by value (CIF + duty) through 3Q 2020, comprising 32.3% of US imports, followed by Spain (23.1%) and Mexico (11.4%).
The successful trade remedy case against China, for dumping and subsidizing products, resulted in 562.52% to 689.5% duties on Chinese imports, changed the U.S. ceramic tile market significantly vs. last year.
Chinese imports through 3Q 2020 were down 98.4% by volume vs. 3Q 2019 YTD, a decline of 416 million square feet. Also, for several weeks in the spring, tile plants in the three countries exporting the most tile to the U.S. (i.e. Spain, Mexico, and Italy) were shut down due to COVID-19, which negatively impacted imports.
Domestic shipments
Through 3Q 2020 US shipments were 654.4 million square feet, down 1.5% from 3Q 2019 YTD.
In dollar value 3Q 2020 YTD U.S. FOB factory sales were $975.9 million, down 4.6% vs. 3Q 2019 YTD.
Domestically-produced tile comprised 32.1% of all U.S. ceramic tile consumption (3Q 2020 YTD) by volume and 40.8% by $ value.
Through 3Q 2020, the US exported 23.5 million square feet of ceramic tile, a 4.4% increase vs. 3Q 2019 YTD.
The vast majority of U.S. exports (by volume) were to our North American neighbors: Canada (71.2%) and Mexico (10.5%).
Economic highlights in charts
