2026 CET Congress: European ceramic tile manufacturers call for fair competition and realistic EU ETS benchmarks
Executives from the European ceramic tile industry and national associations from across Europe gathered in Milano Marittima, Italy, from 4 to 6 June for the 2026 Congress of the European Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Federation (CET), kindly hosted by Confindustria Ceramica.
The Congress highlighted the potentially severe impact of the forthcoming EU ETS benchmark update. The methodology initially considered by the European Commission could increase carbon costs for EU ceramic tile manufacturers by 34% from 2026, despite the sector’s limited access to commercially available decarbonisation technologies.
However, the European Commission’s own sub-sectoral analysis (the so-called “sectoral fallback” approach) shows that a methodology reflecting the reality of ceramic tile manufacturing should lead to a 12% reduction in carbon costs, rather than a 34% increase.
CET therefore calls on the European Commission to ensure that its EU ETS benchmarking proposal fully reflects this sub-sectoral analysis. For the ceramic tile sector, this should result in a 12% increase in CO₂ allocations, rather than a 34% decrease, from 2026 onwards.
As CET President Graziano Verdi stated:
“Imposing additional carbon costs on this industry would simply mean accepting the loss of several thousand jobs, deterring the necessary investments in Europe and promoting imports with a higher carbon footprint from countries such as India and China. It makes no sense.”
During the CET General Assembly, members also discussed the mounting pressures affecting European manufacturing, including industrial competitiveness, climate and energy policy, regulatory costs, market access, trade policy and growing geopolitical risks.
The latest CET statistics reveal a particularly concerning situation. EU ceramic tile production and sales remained broadly stable in 2025, but sales stayed at a historically low level of 346 million m².
At the same time, imports originating in India continued to rise, reaching 51.47 million m² in 2025, compared with 47.8 million m² in 2024. This represents an alarming 77% increase since 2022, despite the introduction of anti-dumping duties in 2023.
The Congress further addressed the impact of global overcapacity. Existing ceramic tile overcapacity in China is estimated to represent 8.5 times the size of the EU market, while Chinese-owned production capacity established outside China is estimated at 1.6 billion m², with approximately 400 million m² of overcapacity—close to half of total EU consumption.
CET members consequently called for stronger EU action against unfair trading practices, including the reinforcement of EU Trade Defence Instruments and the creation of a new instrument addressing state-induced overcapacity that would also be available to the ceramic sector.
The Congress featured a keynote contribution from MEP Elisabetta Gualmini, Chair of the European Policy Ceramics Forum, and was honoured by the participation of Michele De Pascale, President of the Emilia-Romagna Region, and Vincenzo Colla, Vice-President and Councillor for Economic Development and the Green Economy in the regional government of Emilia-Romagna.
The 2026 CET Congress reaffirmed the importance of unity and cooperation across the European ceramic tile industry. CET will continue advocating for policies that support industrial competitiveness, sustainable construction, innovation, fair competition and the long-term future of ceramic tile manufacturing in Europe.
The next CET Congress will take place in Portugal from 17 to 19 June 2027.
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