China has become a major exporter of sanitary ware products

Between 2010 and 2022, the world import and export flow of ceramic sanitary ware increased by 71.3% from 2.16 million tons to 3.7 million tons, a compound annual growth rate of 4.6%. However, the positive trend that continued for almost the entire period (with the exception of 2020 due to the pandemic) was interrupted again in 2022, with exports falling by 5.6% compared to 2021. This negative trend has been observed in almost all geographical producing and major exporting countries.

Asia remains the world's largest exporter of sanitary ware, increasing its share of world exports to 66% despite a 3.5% decline to 2.44 million tonnes in 2022. This is the combined result of economic contraction in almost all major Asian exporters (namely China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam), with the only positive exception being Iran.

Shipments from the European Union, the world's second largest exporter, also fell 3.7 per cent to 520,000 tonnes. The three largest exporters alone accounted for half of EU exports, but followed different trajectories, with Poland and Portugal maintaining 2021 levels, while Germany's exports fell by 4.6%. North America (NAFTA) saw an even more severe double-digit decline in exports, falling to 328,000 tonnes (down 13.5% from 2021), mainly due to a 10% decline in Mexico. Non-eu European countries saw a similar contraction in exports (-13.1% to 253,000 tonnes), with Turkey down 8.3% (187,000 tonnes). Also on the decline are South America (84,000 tonnes, -15.4%) and Africa (73,000 tonnes, -7%).

Looking at the entire 12-year period, a clear picture emerges of the export development in each region, particularly the growth in Asia, where exports more than doubled from 1.1 million tonnes to 2.4 million tonnes (CAGR 2022/2010 + 6.9%). Asia's share of global exports has risen from 51% in 2010 to 66% today, beating the share of almost every other region.

In contrast, the EU's exports remained unchanged at 522,000 tonnes during the period, and its share of world trade fell from 24.2% to 14%. While exports overall have increased 22 percent since 2010, NAFTA's share has fallen from 12.4 percent to 8.9 percent. South America, which accounted for 4.6 percent of world exports in 2010, saw its share decline to 2.3 percent, while the volume of exports remained stable for 12 years. The only exceptions were non-EU European countries and Africa, where non-EU Europe's share of world exports rose from 6.1% to 6.8% over the 12-year period due to a 92% increase in export volumes, while Africa's exports grew by 105% over the period, boosting its share of global trade from 1.7% to 2%.

There was little change in the ranking of the top 10 exporters in 2022, with Poland moving from 6th to 5th and Iran moving from 10th to 9th, swapping places with Thailand and Vietnam respectively. China retained the top spot, exporting 1.92 million tonnes (down 2.6% from 2021), accounting for 78% of Asian exports and 52% of world exports. Mexico, the second largest exporter, accounting for 8 percent of global shipments, saw its shipments fall 10.2 percent to 295,000 tons. Following very strong growth in 2021, India also saw a decline, with exports falling from 264,000 tonnes to 251,000 tonnes (-4.9%) last year. This was followed by Turkey with 187,000 tonnes (-8.3%), Poland with 91,000 tonnes (+0.2%), and then Thailand, Germany, Portugal, Iran and Vietnam. Overall, the top 10 bathroom exporters accounted for 84% of global exports.

An analysis of imports by continent in 2022 not only confirms that Asia and North America are the two regions that account for the majority of sanitary ware imports, but also shows that their imports are almost flat: 1.11 million tonnes in Asia (30% of global sanitary ware imports, up 3.3% from 2021); North America accounted for 1.03 million tonnes (27.9% of global imports, 8.8% less than 2021). The European Union also belongs to this leading group, accounting for 21% of global imports in 2022 despite an 8% decline to 770,000 tonnes.

The remaining 21% of global imports are in Africa, South America, non-EU European countries and Oceania.

The ranking of the top 10 importing countries of sanitary ware in 2022 showed some position changes compared with the previous year, with Italy exiting and Saudi Arabia entering. Overall, the top 10 importers of sanitary ware accounted for 50.6% (1.86 million tons) of global sanitary ware imports.

In 2022, the United States was once again the world's largest importer of sanitary ware, importing 875,000 tons (down 6% from 2021). It maintains a strong lead over all other importers, accounting for 23.6 percent of world imports and almost all (85 percent) of imports in the NAFTA region. Considering that U.S. imports in 2010 exceeded 500,000 tons, accounting for 23% of world imports, this marks a continuation of a long-term record.

Germany climbed to second place with imports of nearly 150,000 tonnes (-3.7% compared to 2021), overtaking South Korea with imports of 141,000 tonnes (-9.8%), followed by France (130,000 tonnes, -13.8%), the United Kingdom (112,000 tonnes), and the United States. -14.8%), Canada, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Germany and Vietnam are among the top 10 exporters and top 10 importers of sanitary ware, importing more than exporting.

A final point of interest is the analysis of the main export destinations based on the geographical region of production. Four of the seven regions sell the vast majority of their exports within their own geographic region or continent: 97% of North American exports are still concentrated in the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) region; 82% of South American exports still go to Latin America; 80% of Oceania's exports remain in Oceania; 78% of EU exports go to the EU market.

At the other extreme, 85% of exports from non-EU Europe go elsewhere, especially to the EU (Turkey's largest export market). Similarly, 82 percent of Africa's exports go outside Africa and 58 percent of Asia's exports go outside the continent, thanks to China's ability to ship to almost all global regions.