Ceramic Industry
Ceramic industry mainly uses domestic raw materials,requireshigh labor-intensive and aims at fulfilling the government policy in creating employment and distributing income to regional areas. Therefore, it is one of the most important industries.
1.Production
Ceramic production still expanded more from the increase of production capacity of each factory in order to meet the domestic real estate business’s needs that tended expand continuously but at a decelerating pace from booming to normal conditions. This is caused by a clear reflection of the measure to control real estate credit approval of the Bank of Thailand and the cancellation of governmental measures stimulating the real estate business. As the purchasing power for real estates used in 2003, ademand for construction materials including floor-tile, wall-tile and sanitary ware has begun to slow down and is not as strong as in theprevious year. In 2004, 142.16 million square meters of floor-tiles and wall-tileshave been produced which is an increaseof 18.28 % from 2003, and 7.79 million pieces of sanitary wares have been produced which isan increaseof 6.65 % from 2003. (See Table 1)
2.Marketing
2.1Domestic Market
Domestic distribution of ceramic continues to expand but with a slight slowdown corresponding to weaker conditions of real estate business expansion. In 2004, 151.63 million square meters of floor-tiles wall-tiles have been sold which isan increaseof 8.72 % from 2003, and 4.36 million pieces of sanitary wares have been sold which isan increaseof 20.27 % from 2003. (See Table 1)
Domestic distribution of ceramicis highly competitive because it must compete with imported products from foreign countries, especially from China, while the domestic selling prices of ceramic tend to be higher as a result of oil prices in global market. Many entrepreneurs’ policies have focusedupon middle-end-market and high-end-market to enhance value-added to their products by emphasizing on research and development on new products, design, marketing strategy including advertising through media, increasing the number of distributors, improving displays, adding more product shops, and participating in the exhibition and product fairs.
2.2Export
Most ceramic products have been exported to Japan, U.S., United Kingdom, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, South Korea and ASEAN countries. In 2004, the export value of ceramic products is US$ 540.3 million, increased by 3.01 % from 2003 (See Table 2). This isan increase in the U.S. market, the main market for floor-tile and wall-tile, while the exporting growth rate of other products has declined almost in every main market.
2.3Import
In 2004, the import value ofceramic productsis approximately US$ 219.6 million, increased by 41.59 % from 2003 (See Table 2). They are mostly imported from Japan, China, Germany, Malaysia, Indonesia, Italy, U.S., Singapore, Spain and Taiwan, etc. Mostly, products with high growth rateof import are good quality and expensive, which cannot be produced domestically, such as fireproof brick and laboratory devices that are imported from Japan, and products with lower costs than those produced domestically, especially floor-tile and wall-tile that are imported from China.
3.Summary
Domestic production and distribution of ceramic, particularly ceramicthat are used as construction materials such asfloor-tile, wall-tile and sanitary ware,have continued to increase as a result of the expansion of domestic real estate business even though the expansion is not as strong as last year. This is caused by measures controlling real estate credit approvalfrom the Bank of Thailand, cancellation of governmental measures stimulating the real estate business, and rising interest rate. However, the production and distribution of ceramic products still have a positive trend because major markets of ceramicarethose who buy it for home improvement.Particularly, in the southern provinces damaged by Tsunami, there is an urgent need to revive the tourism business and repair a large number of houses. For the sales of ceramic, prices tend to increase as a result of oil price change. Export of ceramic products is at high growth rate withpositive trend. However, export of ceramiccan be affected by devaluation of the dollar.
Table 1:Domestic Production and Distribution of Ceramic
Products / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004*Production
Floor and Wall Tiles (sq.meter)
Changing rate (%) / 84,849,270 / 99,183,308
16.89 / 120,193,952
21.18 / 142,161,694
18.28
Sanitary Ware (piece)
Changing rate (%) / 6,140,166 / 6,101,861
-0.62 / 7,307,788
19.76 / 7,793,916
6.65
Distribution
Floor and Wall Tiles (sq.meter)
Changing rate (%) / 94,224,903 / 113,403,682
20.35 / 139,471,329
22.99 / 151,627,003
8.72
Sanitary Ware (piece)
Changing rate (%) / 2,583,497 / 3,054,458
18.23 / 3,623,116
18.62 / 4,357,702
20.27
Source:IndustrialEconomicsInformationCenter, Office of Industrial Economics
Remarks:1. From the survey of 12 factories of floor-tile and wall-tiles, 6 factories of sanitary ware
2. Estimated figures in 2004
Table 2:Import - Export Values of Ceramic Products
Value: US$ million
Products / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004*Import of Ceramic
Changing rate (%) / 105.8 / 121.1
14.46 / 155.1
28.08 / 219.6
41.59
Export of Ceramic
Changing rate (%) / 464.5 / 486.6
4.76 / 524.5
7.79 / 540.3
3.01
- Floor and Wall Tiles
Changing rate (%) / 52.8 / 69.7
32.01 / 69.7
0.00 / 87.1
24.96
- Sanitary Ware
Changing rate (%) / 82.3 / 76.4
-7.17 / 100.5
31.54 / 93.9
-6.57
- Tableware
Changing rate (%) / 145.5 / 168.5
15.81 / 188.7
11.99 / 188.7
0.00
- Souvenir & Ornaments
Changing rate (%) / 28.8 / 34.9
21.18 / 35.7
2.29 / 31.2
-12.61
- Electrical Porcelain Insulator
Changing rate (%) / 11.3 / 11.8
4.42 / 18.7
58.47 / 18.2
-2.67
- Other Ceramic Products
Changing rate (%) / 143.8 / 125.3
-12.87 / 111.2
-11.25 / 121.2
8.99
Source:Information Technology and CommunicationCenter, Department of Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Commerce
Remark:Estimated figures in 2004