Trade overview

The EU ceramic industry is a competitive sector which is closely linked with the world market. Many EU ceramic companies are world leaders in their respective fields. Overall, the EU ceramic industry exports more than a third of its production. The wall and floor tiles, refractories and tableware sub-sectors have the highest share of exports, but almost all sub-sectors have a positive trade balance.

In the first half of 2010 under the Spanish EU Presidency, the Trade Policy Committee of the Council in its STIS (steel, textiles and other industrial sectors) configuration discussed a “ceramics sector fiche” which summarises the most important trade concerns of the EU ceramic industry and shall serve as a reference document for EU institutions. Following the adoption of the fiche by the Council’s Trade Policy Committee, Cerame-Unie and the European Commission are working on the follow-up of this important sectoral analysis.

Trade is an important field of activity for Cerame-Unie and its members. Our trade priorities include market access/trade barriers, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and counterfeiting, WTO and free trade agreements as well as origin marking.