Despite the complex macroeconomic context, 2021 has been a great year for ceramics. This follows from the report presented this Tuesday in Valencia by the consulting firm Deloitte, in which it adds the good performance of profitability (16% EBITDA margin), investment figures (11% of sales) and the "high" growth (26%) as the main elements of the good summary that leaves the year for the ceramic industry, fundamental in the Valencian Community and, mainly, in the province of Castellón.
"The Spanish ceramic industry has closed 2021 with an outstanding performance," says Javier Arribas, partner at Deloitte's Financial Advisory, responsible for the new edition of the study Situation and prospects for the ceramic sector.
The report shows a 26% growth in sales in 2021, a record figure that is 17% above the sales level of 2007, prior to the real estate boom, they note.
In this sense, they point out that both the domestic and export markets have "notably" improved their level of sales, with 33% and 24%, respectively.
The study acknowledges that the objective of the sector during the pandemic was to maintain growth, but highlights that now the industry faces "the challenge of profitability", especially due to the impact of energy costs.
"Fortunately, the fundamentals of demand continue to show good evolution and the sector can activate different management levers -such as price strategy or stock management- to alleviate the cost overruns caused by a 2022 of great macroeconomic and geopolitical complexity", he has marked Arribas.
The low importance in the exports of the countries involved in the European conflict, the current situation would have reduced the expected growth of the Spanish ceramic industry for 2022 from 15% to 13%.
However, they state that there is greater exposure to its effect on the price of gas or on the need to open new markets to import products such as clay. Therefore, the conflict would have reduced the EBITDA margin expectations of the ceramic sector for 2022 from 13% to 7%.
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