The world largest ceramic tile factory will be launched in Philippines soon. It is a China Philippines joint venture. There are four owners of the JV, Philippines based Ayala and China based New Zhongyuan Ceramics, Keda Clean Energy and Nenking Holdings. This is a project of "Chinese model. Chinese technology and Chinese equipment"

It is planned that 12 ceramic lines will be built in two years and the main products are polished and interior wall ties. The daily capacity of one line is over 20,000 sq meters and the total annual capacity reaches 100m. sq meters. The total investment is estimated at RMB 2-3 billion. The project is expected to start later this year.

ASCER Confirms Tile Revival

As announced during Cevisama 2017 by the newly elected Chairman of Ascer, Vicente Nomdedeu Lluesma, the Spanish ceramic the industry closed the year 2017 with positive results, confirming the trend registered in 2016.

According to Ascer (The Spanish Association of ceramic tile manufacturers), in 2017 the national ceramic tile production increased by 8% hitting 530 million sq.m, whilst total sales grew by 7% to 3,520 million euros, with the average price also up by 1.31%.

The value of exports increased by 5-6% to 2,700 million euros. Vicente Nomdedeu Lluesma confirmed the "good shape' of the European Union, although Germany and the United Kingdom are “wobbly". At a more global level, Ascer has detected that there are two major currents pulling the figures in opposite directions. On the one hand, Algeria the whole of North Africa and some Middle Eastern countries are performing poorly; on the other hand, the USA [+25.5% on 2016] and the recovery of Eastern Europe are driving positive performance.

As to the domestic market, there has been positive growth since the second quarter of last year, although by the end of the exercise the rate of growth was no longer in double digits. "At year’s end, we will have recorded an overall rise of between 9 and 10% of domestic sales to 820 million euros, thanks to the particularly strong start claimed Ascer's Chairman.

Estimates published by Ascer indicate that employment also grew in 2017，with 700 new jobs created up until September.