Asian Ceramics - AC16-7 Edition

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AC16-7

STORM CHASER S TILE TRENDS IN ASEAN

SEE INSIDE

Se e U s at C E R SA I

E

IN FOCUS: Ink-jet printing focus

The China Progress Report BREXIT: fears unfounded?

Plus news, views and interviews

K aj a ri a s e iz e s t h e ch a n ce

www. AMR4 u.com

Superwhite KAOLIN for TABLEWARE & TILE

SPECIALIZED replacements for BONE ASH

Makingg a Material Difference 369, Conic Investment Building 13 Hok Yuen Street, Hung Hom Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 23637813 • (852) 23637823 Fax: (852) 23637826 Email: enquiries@AMR4u.com

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One of Abdul Rahman, a group of companies and Abdul Karem Saleh Omran TRADE and industry began commercial production of the plant in early 1999, the factory is located in riyadh Second Industrial City and a production capacity of up to (400,000) electric water heater annually. The factory produces electric water heaters sizes (30.50,100,200,250,300 liters) multiple different colors and models, including horizontal and vertical-fashioned style and ground-style central and style.

Al Jawdah company for plastic pipes and fittings, The company was founded in 1994 and is engaged in the production of plastic pipes of the (PVC) and (C-PVC) and (UPVC) and (PP-R) This addition to the production of links all kinds of plastic in all sizes and different thickness are used in various fields such as extensions of water lines with high and low pressure and sewage extensions, telephone and electricity and agricultural extensions, according to the Saudi Arabian Standards for Standards, Metrology and international standards.

Al-Jawdah Ceramics Company was established in 1995 and produces ceramics wall and floor tiles with a wide range of products. The Company produces all decorative products such as Listello,skirting etc, To match the tiles. The Company continuous growth to fulfill the Saudi Arabian and Middle East market requirement.

Group of Companies Abdul Rahman and Abdul Karem Saleh Al-Omran were established in 1975 under the name of Al Omran sanitary ware and specialized in wholesale and retail trade of sanitary ware and accessories, as one of the largest companies imported sanitary ware in the kingdom and the Middle East, where the importation of the major companies and factories World finest varieties and the latest models to suit all tastes and in very large quantity to cover all the request for the large projects and the Group is one of the largest and most famous companies working in this field in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states in the framework of the Group’s commitment to provide distinctive products has added industrial ACTIVITY through the creation of the group of companies large industrial sophisticated and includes four leading industrial companies under the name of Aljawdah companies, namely:

Visit us at w w w. a l o m r a n . s a / w w w. a l j a w d a h g r o u p . c o m

Email: alomran@cyberia.net.sa / info@aljawdahgroup.com Tel: Al-Jawdah: +966 11 265-0228 / Al-Omran: +966 11 422-3316

S. Al- Omran to fulfill the Saudi Arabian Market demand of Ceramic and porcelain tiles.

natural gas and electricity. Investment done by Al-Omran group Mr. Abdul Rahman S. Omran and Mr. Abdul Karim

Plant expected in operation in 1st quarter 2017 with full support of ministry of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with supply of

Plant capacit capacity.

square meters per annum. The complete building of 9,200 square meter area built for the future expansion to double the

hydraulic Press PH 3200 and PH 6500 and attractive KILN for the production of Porcelain tiles with capacity 13.0 million

TECHNO FERRARI, MARPAK, BMR and FRACCAROLLI/CAMI with latest technology. Plant equipped with Special SACMI

machines are in progress with Italian company machines which are include SACMI, SYSTEM CERAMICS, CIMES,

complex in 2nd Industrial city, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Company is under construction and installment of the

Al-Jawdah Porcelain and Ceramic Company is the new established by Al-Jawdah group of companies near to our existing

News

Contents: AC 16-7

d w o r c e h t m o r f St a n di n g out Jingdezhen is also known as the “Porcelain Capital� because it has been producing pottery for over 1,700 years. Just last month, however, a scientific research team from Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute presented their latest discoveries in ceramic 3D printing.

Researchers in this team have modified original 3D printers and achieved a lot of improvement in material formulae. They then calculated out new ceramic materials that are most suitable for 3D molding.

Compared with the traditional powders, they chose to use shearthinning fluids that do not depend on resin and contain higher level of solid ceramic. This means that the accomplished model will be more stable and will not be changed in shape very easily. In addition, shear-thinning fluids could be used to print enclosed cavities, which would be impossible for powders. Needless to say, porcelain-style items giftware is becoming a focus.

We predicted in the past that 3D ceramics could soon spread to other areas, such as sanitaryware and tableware, and as the industry continues to perfect the technology, then, perhaps, that day is getting closer.

News 8 Inside Asia

Kajaria: a tile maker with plans.

10 Welcome

Pakistan under pressure.

12 Across The Continent

Openings, closures and industry moves from across Asia.

16 International News Our eye on the international arena.

24 Material Matters Raw materials news and views.

26 Comment & Analysis The battle for sanitaryware.

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AC 16-7

28 www.asianceramics.com

News

www.asianceramics.com Features

Looking forward

28 ASEAN tile trade

Yogender Malik discusses some of the principal production trends emerging from South East Asia as the industry there comes under a range of wider pressures.

32 Province Profile: Gao ‘An

In our penultimate tile profile, we move to Gao’An – an area of China that after the boom seems now to have hit the buffers.

36 Province Profile: Jiajiang

As our province profiles draw to a close, we move to Jiajiang – one of the lesser known areas for tile manufacture in the country.

40 Brexit: the impact

In a depature from his normal column, William Hunter discusses the effects of the recent BREXIT vote in the UK on the global ceramic industry, and how supply chains may become ultimately disrupted.

46 Inkjet development in China

AC rounds up the current state of the ink-jet printing industry in China, and how it has changed in the last 12 months.

52 Tile trade: the ins and outs

Despite fears that all the country seems to do is export huge quantities, AC looks at how tile imports into China continue to evolve and develop.

Tecnargilla Italy 26-30-Sep Cersaie

Italy 26-30-Sep

The 28th China International Ceramic & Bathroom Fair Foshan 18-21-Oct CICA Annual Meeting

TBA

Ambiente

Frankfurt

10-14 Feb 2017

Cevisama

Spain

20-24 Feb 2017

Indian Ceramics

India

1-3 Mar 2017

ISH Frankfurt

Germany

14-18 Mr 2017

Keramika

Indonesia

16-19 Mar 2017

The 29th China International Ceramic & Bathroom Fair Foshan Apr 2017 Mosbuild

Russia

4-7 Apr 2017

Ecobuild China

China

26-28 Apr 2017

ISH China & CIHE

China

13-15 May 2017

Middle East Stone

UAE

22-25 May 2017

Ceramics China

China

1-4 Jun 2017

We look forward to seeing our readers and advertisers at the show!

46

Anaylsis

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62 Talking Shop

Your favourite magazine is now available at the App Store…

70 Insight

download today to see your first sample issue!

Fabio Tarozzi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at SITI talks to AC about how the company’s AIM listing and how the industry may shape on the back of it.

Analysis and insight into Saudi Arabia.

74 The Hunter And The Hunted

William upgrades to an ipad, but still casts his unsympathetic eye over industry issues: this month he asks if the Ceramics China exhibition is still an industry leader…

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Asian Ceramics: now for mobiles, ipads and androids

AC 16-7

asian ceramics

7

Inside Asia

KAJARIA SEIZES THE CHANCE AC gets a unique in Northern and Central insight into the inner India, own manufacturing thoughts of one of the is the only option as there continent’s foremost are not any such units in tile manufacturers, North India.

Kajaria Ceramics: Asian Ceramics - Are Asian Ceramics - From a there some other JV modest capacity at your ventures in pipeline in inception to an annual near future? capacity of 68.60 mn.

The Company recently sq. meters presently, did a JV with Floera Kajaria Ceramics’ Ceramics Pvt. Ltd, Mr Ashok Kajaria with his sons Chetan and Rishi journey has been which is putting up a one of the most inspiring stories in Indian and manufacturing facility of polished vitrified tiles with global tile industry. What factors have helped a capacity of 5.70 MSM p.a. in Andhra Pradesh.

Kajaria achieve its dominant position in the The land has already been acquired. The plant is local industry? expected to be commissioned by Sept’ 17.

Kajaria: Kajaria’s position in the industry can be Asian Ceramics - What is the industry growth in attributed to a number of factors, a wide product last 4-5 years? What according to you have been basket in all ranges of tiles: ceramic wall & floor the production and consumption figures for Indian tiles, polished vitrified tiles and glazed vitrified tiles, tile industry in last two years? availability of products at every price point (`200 The industry has been growing at a CAGR of 11 per sqm to `1800 per sqm) through the widest 12% per annum in the last 4-5 years except the array of designs, finishes and sizes. Further, from year ended 2016, where the growth was lower. being a purely North based Company; we have As on March 2016, Indian tile industry annual now set up capacities in the West and South which production and consumption estimated to be 850 improves our deliverances, making us both cost MSM and 810 MSM respectively. and time effective. Further, Kajaria has consistently Asian Ceramics - Unorganized sector in Indian tile leveraged the two invaluable assets - the Kajaria industry has been a sore in the eye for most of brand and unparalleled, nationwide distribution the organized sector tile producers in the country. network to cater to the growing aspirations of the How do you see the role of smaller tile producers discerning Indian customers. based in Gujarat in Indian industry?

Asian Ceramics - In recent years, your company The Indian Ceramic Tile industry is estimated has stressed more on JV route and outsourced to be of Rs. 26,000 crore of as of March 2016, manufacturing. Do these arrangements score over which is distributed equally in organized and in-house manufacturing? unorganized sector. The unorganized sector role is Over the last 5 - 6 years, the company has started no less important as they have mastered the art of entering into joint ventures (JVs) with existing small producing cost effective tiles, which has helped in tile makers in the Western and Southern markets the growth of tile industry in India. which has helped the company to strengthen its Asian Ceramics - What changes in demand pattern sectoral competitiveness and made it possible have taken place in last two years in Indian tile to distribute products faster across the country. market? What kinds of tiles are most in demand However, if there is a need to cater to the growth amongst consumers?

Growth of the ceramic tile industry is mainly due to increasing domestic demand in various sectors. Be it the increasing need for quality products in sectors like hospitality, construction, corporate spaces or residential premises, the demand curve has been very positive and motivating for us as well the entire industry. The market has been moving from smaller tile to big size tiles. Digital technology also helped offer limitless design and pattern with various finishes.

Asian Ceramics - What are the biggest problems facing Indian ceramic tile industry currently?

High cost of fuel was the main issue as industry player were paying much higher than the international price,

the anomaly which since been corrected from January 2016 onwards. We don’t see any major issues with the industry.

Asian Ceramics - How and where do you see Indian ceramic tile industry and your company in 5 years’ time?

The per capita consumption of tiles is one of the lowest in India. The Indian tile industry is expected to register good growth; this optimism is based on important realities and investment inducing Government policies such as swatch Bharat (Cleaning India), Housing for All, Smart Cities etc which promise to open for business opportunities, for the Indian tiles sector, over the medium term.

Welcome

Pakistan’s domestic ceramic tile manufacturers have approached the government to increase the import trade price of Chinese tiles by 30 percent to support the local industry.

Import trade price is the value on which duty and taxes are applicable. Although, the cost of manufacturing has been increasing persistently in China, the government continuously decreased import trade price of the commodity.

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AC16-7

CONTACT DETAILS EDITORIAL

STOR M CHAS ER S

TILE TRE NDS IN ASEAN

SEE INSIDE

See Us at

ADVERTISING AND DESIGN

CERSAI E

IN FOCUS: Ink-j

et printing focus The China Progress Repo rt BRE XIT: fears unfounde d?

Plus news, views and interviews

Publishing Director Andy Skillen Email: askillen@asianceramics.com Direct line: + 44 (0) 208 123 0196 Fax: + 44 (0) 207 183 7196

K aja ria sei the ch a ncze s e

“Domestic tiles industry comprises only seven independent tiles manufacturing units, of which one of the units, Emco Industries Limited, has already shut down its tile manufacturing plant due to unfair competition,” submitted All Pakistan Ceramic Tiles Manufacturers Association.

Pakistan’s tiles manufacturing industry was facing a precarious situation due to massive influx of imported tiles on abnormally under-invoiced values. “There is an urgent need for remedial actions to offset the unfair and illegal trade practices of tile importers, which are causing losses to the national exchequer, as well as damaging the domestic tile industry,” the association noted.

The association, in its application submitted that a declaration disclosing full and accurate details relating to the value of imported tiles was not being made in a bid to evade payment of due taxes and duties.

As a direct consequence, losses were being faced by the national exchequer in terms of revenue foregone, while injury was being caused to the domestic industry producing similar products, which compete directly with the tiles imported from China.

The importers were able to undercut the prices due to the margin available to them, because full and correct customs duty and other taxes were not being paid. “The domestic tiles Industry is a vibrant sector with potential for growth and generation of employment and export revenues.

However, as a result of an on-going organised campaign to import Chinese manufactured tiles at abnormally low transaction values, the viability of the entire Industry has become doubtful,” the association said.

According to the association’s estimates, under-invoicing and non-payment of leviable duty and taxes was causing a loss of Rs400 million to the exchequer annually. “One unit has completely ceased production and others may be contemplating the same or have moved to also importing and selling the dumped tiles in view of the influx of Chinese tiles which are being sold in Pakistan at very low prices as full and correct customs duty is not being paid thereon."

It would seem that difficult times remain for a struggling tile sector…

Happy Reading!

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AC 16-7

Asian Ceramics (ISSN: 1476-1467), is published by Bowhead Media Ltd, registered in the UK no: 6127651

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Tile standard aims to simplify • Shabbir seals deal with ABAD • CIDB continues enforcement of ceramic import s gains as Swach Bharat continues • Vigalcera Corporation expands tile output • Foshan China looks for toehold • K CHINA

Tile standard aims to simplify The Ceramic Tile(GB/T41002015) national standard in China that has now been put fully into implementation marks a new stage of the Chinese national standard of ceramic tile.

The new national standard(GB/ T4100-2015) is a revision of Ceramic Tile(GB/T4100-2006), which amends the requirements of thickness, friction coefficient, small color differences and some classification methods of ceramic tile.

In order to further the implementation of the new national standard, We make a comparison between the national standard and international standard today.

Extruded tile a. Friction Coefficient The friction coefficient of tile is added on the GB/T 41002015, which requires the single value ≥0.50 (dry process), and experimental method also listed on appendix M.3.4. However, there is no requirements of

the friction coefficient on the ISO13006︰2012. b. Reverse of tile the backside pattern depth required on the GB/T 4100-2015 is ≥0.7mm, while requirement in ISO13006︰2012 is more detailed as followed.

• 49≤A＜60 • 0.7≤ h ≤3.5 • A≥60 • 1.5≤ h ≤3.5 * depth(h)/mm, surface area(A)/cm2 c. AⅡa (3%＜E≤ 6%) and AⅡb(6%＜E≤10%) For Category AⅡa (3%＜E≤ 6%) and Category AⅡb(6% ＜E≤10%) , both of them are divided into two category separately in ISO13006︰2012.

For Category AⅡa (3%＜E≤ 6%), it is divided into AⅡa1 (3% ＜E≤ 6%), and AⅡa2 (3%＜E≤ 6%). And Category AⅡb is divided into AⅡb1 (6%＜E≤10%) and AⅡb2 (6%＜E≤10%). The technical requirement of the second category is lower than the first one. In view of this, GB/T 4100-2015 only adopt the first category, which is in higher

technical requirement.

• AⅡa • 3%＜E≤ 6% AⅡa1 • 3%＜E≤ 6% AⅡa2 • AⅡb • 6%＜E≤10% AⅡb1 • 6%＜E≤10% AⅡb2 Powder Pressed tile In GB/T 4100-2015 and ISO13006︰2012.

However, the requirements of friction coefficient, backside pattern, fracture strength and flatness are different. a. Polished tile size For the category of BⅠa(E≤0.5%), the stipulation of size of the polished tile is added in the GB/T 4100-2015.

However, the ISO13006︰2012 has no requirement of the size. b. Friction Coefficient The same as the extruded tile, the friction coefficient of tile is added on the GB/T 4100-2015, which requires the single value ≥0.50 (dry process), and expexperimental method also listed on appendix M.3.4. However, there is no

requirements of the friction coefficient on the ISO13006 ︰2012. c. Reverse pattern the backside pattern depth required on the GB/T 41002015 is ≥0.7mm, while requirement in ISO13006︰2012 is more detailed as followed.

• 49≤A＜60 • 0.7≤ h ≤3.5 • A≥60 • 1.5≤ h ≤3.5 * depth(h)/mm, surface area(A)/cm2 d. Flatness It is required in the GB/T 4100-2015 that tile with side length＞600mm, maximum deviation of flatness should be ≤2.0mm. However, there is no similar requirement in the ISO13006︰2012. e. Fracture Strength It is required in the GB/T 41002015 that tile with thickness ＜7.5mm, the fracture strength of tile should be ≥600. However, the ISO13006︰2012 requires that tile with thickness ＜7.5mm, the fracture strength should be ≥500.

PAKISTAN

Shabbir seals deal with ABAD Shabbir Tiles and Ceramics Limited (STCL) and the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for supply of products by the Shabbir Tiles at discounted rates and on priority basis to ABAD members.

Shabbir Tiles Business Unit Head Murtaza Lalan and ABAD Chairman Haneef Gohar signed the document on behalf of their respective organisations.

Under the agreement, Shabbir Tiles will offer its products to ABAD members on discounted rates and will meet their demand

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on priority basis whereas ABAD will help Shabbir Tiles in identifying potential customers, supporting direct business contacts, winning customers and in other marketing activities.

“ABAD is an esteemed association of builders and developers committed to the growth and prosperity of Pakistan and we feel very enthusiastic about this collaboration and envision an exponential growth in the development of Pakistan through this synergy,” said Murtaza Lalan, Business Unit Head of Shabbir Tiles.

“We are committed to bringing

innovation in the industry and consistently improving quality, availability of products and after-sales service which can revolutionise the industry,” he added.

“Shabbir Tiles & Ceramics Limited is the leader in tile industry in Pakistan and we hope that we can serve our members and customers better by providing them priority access to the quality products including world class porcelain tiles with contemporary nano polish,” said ABAD Chairman Haneef Gohar.

General Manager Sales &

Marketing Aamir Saghir, Regional Sales Manager Mubin Jaliawala and Business Development Manager Farheen Naqvi were also present on the occasion.

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standards • Toto “doubtful” over sales performance • Sanitaryware sector Kim Hin starts reorganisation • Imperial extends reach with new outlet MALAYSIA

CIDB continues enforcement of ceramic import standards The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) has maintained momentum on the enforcement on manufacturers and importers of construction materials and products who have yet to get them certified under the amended CIDB Act (Act 520), a CIDB official said.

CIDB senior general manager (operations sector) Megat Kamil Azmi Megat Rus Kamarani said under the amended law, only construction materials that had received the Perakuan Pematuhan Standard (PPS), or Certification of Standards Compliance, could be used for construction projects in the country.

The PPS certificate is issued

by CIDB to certify that the construction products comply with the relevant Malaysian Standards requirements.

The first of the materials and products to be enforced under the amended law are ceramic sanitaryware, ceramic tiles, steel frame scaffoldings, vitrified clay pipes and fittings, cold reduced mild steel wire for reinforcement of concrete, steel welded fabric for reinforcement of concrete, Portland cement and hydraulic cement.

The others are hot rolled steel bars for reinforcement of concrete, prefabricated timber roof truss systems, hot rolled non-alloy structural steel sections, precast concrete piles

for foundation, steel wire ropes for lifts, iron and steel products, insulation materials, and float glass.

Two additions were made to the Standards and Codes of Practice in the amended CIDB Act to consolidate certification procedures with assistance from the Royal Malaysian Customs Department from Dec 1 last year.

“We have already enforced these requirements for imported materials at the point of entry.

Now we will start enforcement on locally produced materials where we expect that in April we will further enhance our enforcement at construction sites and manufacturing plants

to verify that they are using or manufacturing products that conform to standards,” said Megat Kamil Azmi.

Contractors and manufacturers who do not comply will be liable for fines of up to RM500,000.

“With the amended Act, there is now actual accountability to ensure that their products conform to standards,” he said.

The increased enforcement for product certification will meet requirements under the Construction Industry Transformation Programme’s Quality, Safety and Professionalism thrust to help address issues pertaining to built environment quality and usage of sub-standard materials.

INDONESIA

Toto “doubtful” over sales performance PT Surya Toto Indonesia, a subsidiary of Japan-based Toto Ltd., is doubtful its sales will increase this year after a decline in its first quarter ( Q1 ) performance.

The sanitary ware company’s president director Hanafi Atmadiredja said the continued economic slowdown had hampered the company’s sales in Q1 and the figures would not change for the rest of the year.

“Growing our sales in Indonesia this year is a long shot due to the slow economy. People are saving on household furniture expenses,” he said during Toto Indonesia’s general shareholders meeting in Jakarta.

Toto Indonesia’s sales from January to March reached only Rp 538 billion (US$39.56 million), down 8 percent from the same period last year when the company generated Rp 585 billion.

Its domestic sales suffered a year-on-year decline of 7.3

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percent to Rp 404 billion, while overseas sales fell 10 percent to Rp 134 billion.

Recognizing that his company was not likely to achieve growth this year, Hanafi aimed to achieve the same sales figures as 2015.

“Achieving equal sales to last year would be more than enough for us.”

Last year, Toto generated revenue of Rp 2.28 trillion, a bounce of 11 percent from 2014.

Its domestic sales reached Rp 1.64 trillion, up 5.2 percent from 2014, while overseas sales were Rp 636 billion, up 29.2 percent from 2014.

However, Toto’s profits last year tumbled to Rp 285 billion, falling 3.6 percent from 2014.

Toto Indonesia was established in 1977 by Mardjoeki Atmadiredja, who has acted as president commissioner since 2013. The company produces household goods like sanitary ware, fittings and kitchen systems. Hanafi said

the company’s domestic market share was 70 percent, outpacing competitors like Renovo and American Standard.

With its declining business in the first quarter, in order to equal last year’s figure Toto has placed its hopes on a strategy of increasing product prices.

Hanafi said the approach, which was implemented in April, would not be a boomerang that reduced Toto’s sales throughout the year.

“Cutting prices will not increase sales, because the market is stubbornly low now. So we chose the other way — raising the price of most of our products by 7.5 percent,” Toto’s finance director Setia Budi Purwadi said, adding that Toto’s strong presence was also a key point in the strategy.

Despite its flat outlook this year, Toto Indonesia plans to increase production in following years, which is hoped to increase sales.

To achieve the long-term target, the company is cooperating with

construction material distributor PT Surya Pertiwi Nusantara on building a plant in Surabaya, East Java.

The plant, with an investment of $29 million, is expected to finish construction by June 2017. It will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 products, adding 12 percent to Toto’s production volume every year. Currently the company has three plants located in Tangerang, Banten, with a total capacity of around 2.1 million products annually.

“In the future, this Surabaya plant will also be our main producer, as there is a high possibility of area expansion,” Hanafi added.

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13

News

INDIA

Sanitaryware sector gains as Swach Bharat continues Swach Bharat (clean India) campaign pursued by current Indian government has resulted into a bonanza for Indian ceramic sanitary ware producers. The flagship programme, initiated by Prime Minister Narender Modi has resulted into setting up of 8 million new toilets in the country in April- 2015 to 31st March 2016 period.

As India tries to make itself completely open defecation free by the year 2019, a number of ceramic sanitary ware producers in the country have increased their production capacities. The mission seeks to eliminate open defecation

in the country by 2019. Under the mission , 80 million toilets are to be constructed over five years or 16 million toilets per year.

Despite, the initiative the number of people defecating in open is still very high. According to World Health Organization ( WHO) and UNICEF joint monitoring programme 61 % of the Indians defected in open in 2015.

About 20 new sanitary ware producers in medium and small scale have entered into sanitary ware production in Morbi, the ceramic tile production hub of India. Besides Morbi, the largest

sanitary ware production hub has also seen brisk capacity addition since the announcement of the clean India campaign in 2014.

Vikas Patel of Acme Sanitary ware at Morbi told, “ For the last one and a half years, we are running to the full capacity to meet the demand from various government projects. This year, we didn’t stop the production even in the months of July and August, when sanitary ware production in the Gujarat comes to a halt.” Echoing the statement, Jignesh Bhai of Swagat Sanitary ware in Thangadh says, “ Swach Bharat campaign has brought back life to many struggling

units in Thangadh. Slowdown in domestic and export markets of the Middle East has put a number of units on the verge of shutdown.”

However, a key executive from Cera Sanitary ware, one of the leading companies from organized segment told, “ For the organized industry, Swach Bharat is still to translate into numbers. Since, the products that are going into the Swachh Bharat campaign are tendered by various state governments, where the quality requirements are quite low, organized sector players have not benefited much from the scheme.”

VIETNAM

Vigalcera Corporation expands tile output Leading Vietnamese ceramic tile producer, Viglacera Corporation will commence commercial production at its second phase of Viglacera Thai Binh factory project at Tien Hai district of Thai Binh province in the month of September. The new production line has a total capacity of 2 million square meters and will take the overall capacity at this location to 3.5 million square meters of porcelain tiles. The new line has the capability to produce digital printed porcelain tiles in

large format ( 600 x 600; 400 x 800; 800 x 800 mm).

Located at Tien Hai industrial park in the Mekong Delta province of Thai Binh, the project falls under the economic development corridor of Quang Ninh - Hai Phong – Thai Binh - Nam Dinh - Ninh Binh. The location is favourable from road and sea transport and will enable Vigalcera to export ceramic tiles to other countries of the region at one of the lowest costs.

In terms of numbers and revenue

figure, Vigalcera had a great 2015. The company registered an increase of 12 % in its revenue from ceramic division. It decided to expand the production of porcelain tiles , based on customer’s feedback, who are increasingly demanding larger format tiles for seamless floors.

Viglacera Corporation is the leading company in building material industry in Vietnam. The company is among the largest producers of ceramics and glass. The company operates

three ceramic tile manufacturing plants with a total capacity of 28 million square meters. Eight million square meters of the total capacity consists of porcelain tiles, while remaining 20 million square meters composes of ceramic tiles.

The company operates three ceramic tile companies, Viglacera Hanoi Ceramic Tiles Company, Viglacera Thang Long Ceramic Joint Stock Company and Viglacera TienSon Joint Stock Company for ceramic production and sales.

THAILAND

Foshan China looks for toehold Foshan China Ceramics City Group Co, a marketplace provider for Chinese tile, ceramic and sanitary ware, is looking to expand to the Thai market. It has teamed up with the Home Builder Association (HBA) and is looking for spaces in Bangkok to display its products. Executive vicepresident and chief executive Connie Yu said the group is looking for business expansion opportunities outside China, including Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, to introduce its products. "We have over 800

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manufacturers of tile, ceramics, sanitary ware, kitchen and bathroom furniture and accessories under our network.

Half of them want to export to Thailand," she said yesterday during a visit to the recent Home Builder Expo 2016 in Bangkok. Out of the 800-strong network, 95% were original equipment manufacturers that produced medium-to high-end products for many top brands in Europe. She said the group would also visit some property projects in Bangkok to study the materials being used and would

seek spaces to set up a market place to introduce its network's products.

Founded in 2001 and located in the city of Foshan in Guangdong -- the ceramic capital and trade centre of China -- the group has five marketplaces in China, including three in Foshan and two in other cities. HBA president Pichit Arunepunlop said the association would determine with its members the quantity of Chinese tiles, ceramics and sanitary ware they would order from Chinese producers before signing a

memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chinese partner by year-end.

He said the cost of tiles, ceramics, sanitary ware, kitchen and bathroom accessories accounted for 5% of unit prices of smaller houses and up to 10% for larger ones.

"Despite an import duty of around 10-12%, Chinese products are still 40% cheaper than domestic ones," he said.

"We are confident in this network's product quality as they produce goods for many European brands”.

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MALAYSIA

Kim Hin starts reorganisation Kim Hin Ceramic Sdn Bhd, which ranks among Malaysia’s top three ceramic tile makers has increased its capacity by 7 million sq m per annum following the completion of acquisition of Johan Ceramics Bhd. Kim Hin’s wholly-owned subsidiary Kim Hin Ceramic (Seremban) Sdn Bhd paid RM 28mil for Johan Ceramics’ manufacturing facilities and assets.

Kim Hin Ceramics has its main manufacturing facilities in Kuching with annual production capacity of some 7 million sq m.

The acquisition is to expand Kim Hin’s production capacity in the

peninsula market. Johan Ceramics owned two factories involved in the manufacturing and sale of glazed ceramic wall and floor tiles. The factories stopped production in the second half of 2015.

“We expect the first line with annual production capacity of one million sq m to resume operation

by July. It will produce wall tiles under the brand names of Johnson Tiles and Kimgres,” according to a key executive from Kim Hin Ceramics.

Kim Hin started the production of Johnson Tiles, a premium product, last year after it acquired UK-based Norcros Industry Pty Ltd, one of the

major importers and distributors of Johnson Tiles in Australia and properties owned by Johnson Tiles Pty Ltd. Kim Hin plans to upgrade the other two production lines of the former Johan plant next year before putting them back into production. The proposed upgrading is estimated to cost RM20mil.

Kim Hin has maintained doubledigit growth in sales over the past three years, with group turnover soaring to RM367.3mil for financial year ended Dec 31, 2015 (FY2015) or a 17% hike from RM313.4mil in FY2014 and RM261mil in FY2013.

Kim Hin is also investing RM 10mil in a new production line in its plant in Shanghai, China to raise output capacity. The proposed new

line, which was expected to be operational by December 2016, would have an annual capacity of 1.5 million sq m of tiles.

The new line will replace an existing production line which has an annual capacity of one million sq m per annum. Once operational, the Shanghai plant would increase its total capacity to 2.5 million sq m from the current 2 million sq m per annum.

Last year, the company’s China operation chalked up higher sales of RM67.3mil from RM59.5mil in 2014. Slowdown in China’s economy had hit the domestic ceramic tile industry, forcing some smaller manufacturers out of business while the over-geared big players had scaled down their production outputs.

known by the time of contract signature with the partner, the Chief Executive said. "We plan so far to sell products from available collections and will take further decisions depending on the demand," Tylevich said. The company is interested in boosting export supplies to the Middle East,

she added.

The Imperial Porcelain Factory founded by the decree of Empress Elizabeth in 1744 in St. Petersburg became the first porcelain factory in Russia. The product range of the factory is currently over 4,000, including dinnerware, gift products and artworks.

BAHRAIN

Imperial extends reach with new outlet Russia’s Imperial Porcelain Factory (IPF) will open an outlet in Bahrain this October to reach the Middle East market, Chief Executive Officer of the company Tatiana Tylevich told TASS on Tuesday.

"We will sign a contract in

September and our products will appear there in October. It will be an outlet in a department store in Manama," Tylevich said.

She did not detail the amount of investments.

Supplies are currently discussed and will become

International News

Iride opts for Nuova Sima Italy

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acmi’s range of ceramic slab/ tile polishing and diamondtipped brushing solutions continues to grow, as the latest order supplied by Nuova Sima (the Sacmi Group’s specialist provider of automated machining, inspection, handling and end-ofline solutions) to Iride (a pivotal longstanding ceramic machining player in the Sassuolo district that provides services to the industry’s biggest brands) clearly demonstrates.

Delivered at the start of the year and already running at full capacity, this complete line for the polishing/ brushing of fired slabs includes solutions that complement the already tried-and-tested line of Sacmi-Nuova Sima unfired product cutting solutions. This new

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highly automated line features an automatic handling system that picks the tiles and feeds the polishing-brushing machine. The extremely innovative integrated machining centre is made up of two units, each equipped with 15 floating heads, a solution that allows effective, flexible management of widely differing products, including slabs as large as 1600x3200.

This solution – which works in concert with unfired product cutting systems already integrated into Sacmi’s CONTINUA+ large decorated ceramic slab manufacturing line – is extremely efficient and competitive as it can control, via the two machining units, complex polishing and brushing tasks on every type of commercially available surface and

size. Downstream from the polisherbrusher lies another essential part of the order, the cutting line, which allows users to obtain the various sub-multiples starting from an already-treated surface (i.e. one ready for subsequent finishing, packaging and palletization).

A further essential element of the order supplied to Iride regards, in fact, final slab treatment: this solution, in addition to removing residual vitrified material, occludes the microporosity that can form on ceramic surfaces. Indeed, the latter often gives rise to the well-known problem of surface cleanability over time. With the Sacmi-Nuova Sima machine, instead, slabs offer excellent long-term cleanability, a key factor in laying and a significant

source of added value, especially where tiles/slabs are used in hightraffic areas such as shops, airports and crowded public spaces.

Together with the polishingbrushing, cutting and finishing line, Nuova Sima also supplied – via the specialised Surface Inspection brand – six automatic inspection systems for checking size and colour: an effective solution that ensures products meet the required surface, size and colour specifications.

Yet another distinctive feature, which together with high levels of line automation, ensures Iride can count on fully automatic total quality control, making it one of the very few outsourcers in the district capable of offering such advanced services.

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International News

Chinese projects provide major ceramics outlet Kenya

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hinese conglomerate China Wu Yi is building a Sh10 billion housing materials plant in Athi River after bagging major tenders in the country.

The factory, expected to be complete in June, will manufacture precast materials that will also be sold to other construction firms.

The multinational is putting up the plant through its locally incorporated subsidiary China Wu Yi Precast (Kenya) Company Limited.

Its chairman Qiu Liangxin said the project would create a modern building industry base for research, manufacture, sale and demonstration of pre-cast elements in Kenya.

“The development of prefabricated building is significant to the transformation of construction, with advanced guarantee on construction quality and safety,” Mr Liangxin said.

“We have been behind various

projects in this region and this will be our first building materials producer established overseas.”

The factory will sit on 30 acres of land off Mombasa Road. It will include a pre-cast element plant, a display area, warehouse and a construction material supermarket which will introduce materials from China, effectively making it a onestop shop for building materials in the country.

The supermarket will stock among others stones, ceramic tiles, bathroom appliances, construction electrical fittings, lamps and kitchen furniture.

The pre-casts will include solid wall panels, hollow core slabs, sandwich wall panels, facade panels, lift shafts, staircases and foundation piles.

Customers will be able to obtain the pre-cast materials to fit their housing designs enabling fast and less costly construction.

The firm has partnered with two German technology services

providers, Ebawe Anlagetechnik to supply equipment for the concrete pre-casts production and Nemetschek to provide the software for the design of the housing parts.

Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed who presided over the ground breaking ceremony said the project was among those the government signed a cooperation agreement during the China-Africa Business Council in Beijing.

“This is basically industrialising the construction sector because this will shorten building period by more than 50 per cent,” Mr Mohamed said.

“The building and construction industry is rapidly growing and this investment is very timely for our economy and in line with our industrialisation blue print. The number of cement companies around here will no doubt have new demand for cement from this firm.”

China Wu Yi, which participated

in the construction of the Thika Superhighway, the University of Nairobi Tower, Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital and several apartments in Nairobi is also planning to put up an iron and steel factory in Kenya in the near term.

The plant, whose timelines were undisclosed, will produce over three million tonnes of steel targeting public and private sector projects.

China Wu Yi will also rely on the plants to feed its own projects in the country where it has emerged as one of the largest construction firms.

The multinational last year said it had won four construction tenders in Kenya worth Sh10.1 billion.

Its latest contract is the Sh16.4 billion reconstruction and capacity enhancement of James Gichuru Junction-Rironi road.

The road works, meant to ease traffic flow in the capital, is being funded by World Bank and the government.

Brick company benefits from currency rates United Kingdom

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ichelmersh Brick Holdings chalked up a £2.6 million pre-tax profit in the first half of the year, as slightly higher prices made up for a two per cent fall in volumes.

Telford-based Blockleys – one of the two biggest plants in the group – actually increased the volume of bricks it produced, which made up for a shortfall elsewhere.

Revenue was flat at £15.3 million in the six months to June 30.

But the company said it expected imports of bricks to continue with recent falls, as currency fluctuations make home-made bricks more attractive.

The collapse in the value of the pound has made imports more expensive.

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Michelmersh chairman Eric Gadsden said: “The company performed well in the first half despite the expected weaker market, and is on track to deliver its targets for the full year.

“We continue to invest in our plants to increase efficiency, which over the medium term will enable us to outperform the market with on-going creative development of products, investment in process and encouragement of the efforts of its employees.”

Blockleys, based in Sommerfield Road in Hadley, produces high end bricks for the group, which have been used in prestige buildings such as ITV’s new headquarters at Salford Quays in Manchester and the award-winning Eight Artillery Row project in Victoria, London.

Overall, Michelmersh produces

around 72 million bricks per year, although volumes fell by around 600,000 to 35.1 million in the first half of 2016.

“The first six months of 2016 have seen a robust level of order intake across the group,” Mr Gadsden said.

“The group ended the period well ahead of intake target with a forward order commitment over 47 million bricks.”

He added: “Industry statistics suggest that brick manufacturing is largely steady and delivery volumes slightly, but not significantly, up and this is reflected in flat pricing.

“Imports seem to be falling from recent increased levels with currency and local economy factors indicating that this reduction will continue.

“Most commentators recognise

the release of pressure from imports and the long term increasing demand for housing and this leads to a steady and growing demand for bricks.

“Whilst this may not be apparent in markets yet, the direction of travel is established.”

The company also said it does not expect to suffer too heavily from the EU Referendum result.

“Whilst it is too early to know the full long-term impacts of the UK’s exit from the EU, the board feels that the company is well positioned to manage any effects within the brick manufacturing and housing industry,” it said.

“The board do not believe the outcome of the referendum in itself results in any material change in the outlook for the group’s near term financial results or future growth prospects.”

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China: the dumping debate

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Mexico lthough the export volume of ceramics increases year by year, Economy Ministry of Mexico published an announcement on the anticountries continue to lodge anti-dumping complaints against dumping investigation against wall tile and floor tile originated in China Chinese imports to the point where the sector is feeling on 8th May 2015. The anti-dumping investigation took USA as surrogate increasingly threatened. Indeed, looking back over the last few country. American marketing statistical data of the first quarter in 2014 years, it’s been quite a record. was taken to calculate the normal value of Chinese products. The decision The most recent is from Pakistan. In February 2016, National Tariff was went into effect on 8th May. Dumping investigation was started Commission (NTC) aunched anti-dumping investigation to Chinese wall from 1st October 2013 to 30th September 2014, and the material injury tile and floor tile. NTC announced that all interested parties including evaluation was began from 1st October 2011 to 30th September 2014. importers and Chinese manufacturers needing to submit written Columbia material before 4th April. The case continues.

Colombia Investigatory Apparatus announced anti-dumping This is not the first time for Pakistan to bring anti-dumping cases investigation against Chinese ceramic tile on 25th February 2015. against China. The first anti-dumping case from Pakistan was brought as early as 10 years ago, however, it was turned down by the Pakistan Time Country Products involved Anti-dumping duty rate Final decision Supreme Judicial Court ( SJC ). Final 23/2/2016 Pakistan wall tile, floor tile determination of SJC was issued India wall tile, floor tile with on August 2015 to cancel the 13/10/2015 less than 3% water absorption ruling of NTC’s anti-dumping case against China. Just 6 months later, 05/2015 Mexico Wall tile, floor tile Anti-dumping investigation Pakistan launched anti-dumping 02/2015 Colombia ceramic tile Anti-dumping investigation, investigations again. no provisional duty applied India’s Investigatory Apparatus 07/2014 Brazil unglazed tile, mosaic, similar $3.01/sq / to $5.73/sq m.

No price undertaking announced anti-dumping companies investigation against Chinese tile $3.34/sq m - $6.42/ sq m. on 13th October, 2015. The antivalid 5 years dumping investigation period is Argentina Unglazed tile, facing tile Polished tile: $12.20/sq. m. from April 2014 to March 2015. 02/2013 unpolished tile: $8.77/sq m.

Wall tile and floor tile with less than 3% water absorption, including Argentina Waist lines $50.03/sq m.; valid period 5 glazed and unglazed porcelain tile, 01/2013 years polished and unpolished vitrified 08/2012 Argentina Glazed and unglazed tile $4.62.sq. m., valid 6 months tile, were under investigation.

The history of Indian anti-dumping EU Glazed and unglazed tile 73% Six companies: 26.3cases against China can be traced 09/2011 36.5% back to as early as 2001. In this 120 companies: case they required to levy duty 30.6% of more than $8.28/sq.m. on the 1200 companies: unglazed tile export from China. It 69.7% is twice as much as the cost price 08/2011 Peru Wall tile sides length <60cm no anti-dumping measures at that time. And the anti-dumping 05/2011 Thailand Glazed and unglazed tile Average tax rate: 4.58% duty was set to be 155.00 Rupee/ Highest tax rate: 35.49% sq.m. by the review decision. In 07/2011 Korea Glazed and unglazed tile 9.14% - 29.41% 2008, India launched anti-dumping 2010 EU Glazed and unglazed tile Anti-dumping investigation investigation against Chinese Thailand Glazed and unglazed tile Anti-dumping investigation glazed tile, and most of the Foshan 2009 India Glazed tile 137.00 Rupee/sq m. ceramic companies were levied 2008 Korea Glazed and unglazed tile 7.25% - 37.4% 2.76-22.41% anti-dumping duty of 137.00 2005 Rupee/sq.m.

2001 India Unglazed tile $8.28/sq m.

155 Rupee/sq m.

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According to data published by customs, the export volume to Columbia in 2014 is up to 74.767 million. On 2nd June 2015, preliminary determination was issued by DTI which decided to carry on the investigation on Chinese tile and not to charge provisional anti-dumping duty.

Ceramic tile originated in China was subjected to anti-dumping investigation from Brazil in July 2013. Unglazed tile, ceramic mosaic and similar products were levied anti-dumping duty for 6 months. Tax rate was from $3.01/sq.m. to $5.73/sq.m.

In January 2015, DECOM of Brazil issued the definitive determination of the anti-dumping case. It accepted the price under-taking application of 133 companies, including DONGPENG, EAGLE and NEWZHONGYUAN. For companies that didn't offer price under-taking were levied $3.34/sq.m. to $6.42/sq.m. anti-dumping duty. The official expiration date is 19th December, 2019.

Argentina Industry Ministry required to start the anti-dumping investigation against unglazed tile and facing tile originated in China in August 2012. Preliminary ruling was to levy $4.62/sq.m provisional anti-dumping duty in valid period of 6 months. The investigation was ended in 2013. Polished tile was levied antidumping duty of $12.20/sq.m., while unpolished tile $8.77/sq.m.

The period of validity is 5 years.

The waist lines export from China was also under anti-dumping investigation in 2013, which ended in July 2014. It ruled that waist lines were levied anti-dumping duty of $50.03/sq.m.

The EU made the anti-dumping investigation against Chinese export glazed tile and unglazed tile in June 2010. Preliminary affirmative determination was made for the case, and the products mentioned above were levied punitive tariffs of up to 73%, which aroused intense discontent among Chinese domestic industry.

Definitive affirmative determination was launched on September 2011. Six companies were levied from 26.3% to 36.5% different tax rates. 30.6% weighted average tariff rate was levied from 120 companies. Besides, the other 1200 companies which didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t participated in the survey sampling were levied 69.7% punitive tariffs. The validity was as long as 5 years.

In August 2011, The National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) of Peru decided to launch anti-dumping investigation on Chinese export wall tile whose length is less than 600mm on each side. The investigation was ended on 18th October 2012 with the result of no antidumping measures. Though it did exist dumping phenomenon for these products, it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bring material injury to the Peruvian domestic industry. So the INDECOPI decided not to take any antidumping measures.

Thailandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anti-dumping case against China was put on record on 3rd December 2009. All Chinese export glazed tiles and unglazed tiles were placed under anti-dumping investigation. The anti-dumping investigation was from 1st October 2008 to 30th September 2009. A large amount of Foshan companies which exported to Thailand were involved, which accounted for over a hundred companies.

Duty rate ruled by the final ruling for the anti-dumping case against China was set on May 2011. It confirmed the anti-dumping average tax rate to be 4.58%, with the highest tax rate of 35.49%.

In Korea, the first anti-dumping investigation against Chinese export glazed tile and unglazed tile in December 2005. Final ruling of the investigation is to levy different import duty rates of 2.76% - 29.41% on those Chinese companies participated in the survey sampling, while 13.33% on those unsampled companies. The ruling was valid for 5 years.

The sunset review was started by Korea in July 2011. Duty rate of preliminary determination was from 9.14% to 29.41%, while the weighted average tariff rate was 16.07%. Valid period of antidumping duty was extended for another 3 years.

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Sacmi to host heavy clay seminar Italy

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eading designer and marketer of plant engineering solutions to the heavy clay industry, Sacmi Heavy Clay has organised - for Wednesday 28th September, simultaneously with Tecnargilla 2016 - an in-depth meeting with the industry’s top international experts in the splendid setting of Lake Garda. “Meeting the Future of Sacmi Heavy Clay”: this, then, is the title of the symposium to be held at the Hotel Poiano Resort in Garda (VR, Italy).

Speakers and participants will meet up at the Sacmi-Cosmec stand (Hall A5C5, 14.30) inside the Tecnargilla trade fair on Tuesday 27th September. From here they’ll move on to Lake Garda where – after a welcome aperitif and gala dinner

– they’ll get ready for Wednesday 28th when the symposium will open with a talk by Heimo Scheuch, CEO of Wienerberger, the industry’s world-leading Vienna-based multinational.

Focussing on the far-reaching developments brought about in the European and global heavy clay industry after a decade of profound change, Mr. Scheuch’s talk will prepare the ground for Lorenzo Bellicini, managing director of Cresme (the Italian building industry forecasting and analysis institute for private and institutional investors); he’ll be taking a close look at the so-called “7th construction cycle”, a phase begun in 2016 that – according to analysts – will see the industry make a good recovery and undergo

Italtile sees profits soar South Africa

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America continues to generate interesting opportunities (these will be illustrated by Angel di Benedetto, owner of the Latercer Group, in a talk focusing on scenarios and prospects for the Argentinian market).

Sacmi Heavy Clay has chosen to end the day with a visit to the nearby headquarters of Cosmec, the international designer of automated heavy clay handling solutions. A Sacmi company for two years now, its arrival has ensured a successful merging of skills within the Group. At the end of the day the participants will be transferred back to the fair in Rimini (which continues until 30th September) but not before an interesting stop at Sacmi Imola to visit the production plant and R&D facility.

Gala performance for SITI B&T Peru

taltile, a franchisor and retailer of domestically made and imported tiles, saw turnover jump 14% to nearly R6bn in the year ended June.

Trading profit had risen 16% to more than R1bn, while margins firmed, primarily due to containment of increases in overheads and increased rebate income, the group said on Thursday. Average price inflation was 6.5%. Headline earnings per share shot up 21% to 86.9. But CEO Nick Booth played down the result. "As it is for most people, it is tough (economically). But there are opportunities in the market," he said.

The main aim of the group was to be the first-choice retailer in its market segment, he said, offering high service levels and the "right product, at the right time, place, and price".

The group also distributes sanitaryware, bathware, laminated flooring, and related homefinishing products, mainly for refurbishing markets.

Operations comprise Italtile Retail, CTM, and TopT across a network of 146 stores in Southern and Eastern Africa.

During the year, Italtile launched its new Gryphon plant, which made large-format glazed porcelain tiles

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profound reconfiguration, with new driving factors being closely linked to technological innovation, urban regeneration and new markets.

The latter include Algeria, a strategic area that will be the subject of a detailed report by Luca Casaletti of Bongioanni Stampi: he’ll also be focussing on the situation in the roof tile market. Then, of course, comes the promising country of Turkey, which will be illustrated by Gokhan Gorciz, a board member of Tukder, the main Turkish brick and roof tile manufacturers’ association. A zone of opportunity, then, that extends from the Mediterranean to nearby Iran (as clearly demonstrated by the recent large-scale orders won

by Sacmi-Cosmec). On the other side of the Atlantic, instead, Latin

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that competed favourably with high-quality imported products, the group said. Market response to the range had been positive.

JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></div> Like-on-like revenue at the retail store level grew 14% compared with total retail growth of 17%.

But the full effect on revenue of 20 new stores that opened in the period would be seen only in the next six months, Italtile said.

The group’s retail operation is supported by a vertically integrated supply chain, investments in major suppliers and an extensive property portfolio.

This led the Competition Commission to object to a proposed R3.4bn buyout of Ceramic Industries and Ezee Tile Adhesive Manufacturers by Italtile.

It already holds 20% of Ceramic, its primary supplier of tiles, sanitaryware, and bathware. Italtile opposes the finding.

Ceramic’s contribution to group profit for the period rose 51% to R83m.

Booth said it would allow Italtile to integrate its information technology systems, giving the overall business better efficiencies.

This would stabilise Italtile’s supply chain and control of operations.

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erámicos Gala, the brand belonging to the renowned Peruvian company Aris Industrial, has chosen SITI B&T Group as its technology partner to modernize its manufacturing facilities and increase productivity.

SITI B&T Group has installed a complete plant consisting of two latest generation EVO 3.0 2808/1750 presses equipped with the very latest E-Synchro® system and a 5-layer 2850/3000 dryer, with completely independent layers, at their 60,000 sq. m facility located in the district of Lurín, to the south of Lima (Peru).

E-Synchro® is the innovative and fully electromechanical demoulding system that, depending on the type of product, provides a reliable and extremely accurate way of operating the lower punch of the mould in a synchronized manner and at the same time enables uneven densities and variations in size to be corrected.

A brand new 133.2 m long TITANIUM® kiln with an inlet of 3200 mm complete with an MHR 230° heat recovery system, guarantees Aris the best possible performance on the market in terms of product quality and energy efficiency, making it

possible to achieve savings of up to 30% and more consistent tones and sizes compared to a traditional kiln.

There is also the innovative, versatile and flexible EVO H8 digital decorating machine from Projecta Engineering equipped with Seiko heads that guarantee the highest performance available on the market in terms of flexibility, ink firing and discharge speeds and the ALD (alternative line device) system.

The Smartline sorting line, characterized by its extreme simplicity of use and reliability, which is also due to the new touch-screen interface of the supervision system, completes the configuration.

Cerámicos Gala can now count on an annual production capacity of 9 million sq. m.

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Raw Material News ALKANE SECURES GLOBAL MARKETING DEAL Australia // Zircon Australian listed gold producer, Alkane Resources Ltd has revealed that it has signed a marketing and sales agreement for its Dubbo Zirconia Project (DZP) with ceramics manufacturer, Minchem Ltd. for all its zirconium materials produced by DZP. Minchem Ltd. was formed following a management buyout of the minerals and chemicals division of Palabora Europe Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Palabora Mining Co. Ltd. As such the company represents the sales and marketing interests of Palabora Mining Company’s zirconium ores. As such, the arrangement ensures that Alkane is provided with an experienced partner to market DZP’s zirconium products directly to key industry-end users.

Under the arrangement, DZP will initially supply Minchem for five years from the date DZP commences with its zirconium production, with an option to extend for a further five years thereafter by mutual agreement.

Currently the company is in the construction phase with the demonstration pilot plant (DPP) trials scheduled to have started in August with the aim of producing zirconium products and hafnium and rare earth concentrates.

The plan is to produce around 16,000 tpa of zirconium products including zirconium dioxide, speciality zirconium chemicals and valueadded zirconium products.

The market reacted positively to the marketing arrangement as Alkane’s share price rose from AUD0.2650 to AUD0.3250 (US$0.204 to US$0.25)

on the back of the announcement on the 16th of August. The share price has been maintained at this level.

The majority of zirconium is consumed by the ceramics industry (47%) with the balance being split between chemicals (21%), refractory (17%), foundry (12%) and other uses (3%).

Whilst the milled zircon for use in ceramics has come under pressure due to increased competition from lower cost substitutes such as calcined alumina, feldspar and alumina-silicate mixtures, it is expected that DZP will be focused primarily on zirconium-based chemical products, which Core Consultants is forecasting will rise by roughly 25% CAGR over the next five years. Currently the majority of these chemicals is expected to be produced by China which has invested heavily in chemical facilities over the last decade and currently dominates 80% of zirconium production.

Moreover, 80% of the global zircon chemical capacity, which stands at 525,000 tpa, is comprised of zircon oxychloride (“ZOC”) which is forecast to grow ZOC offers lower levels of radioactivity as uranium and thorium are concentrated in waste streams. Again, China dominates the ZOC market, supplying over 90% of global production and now needs to manage and dispose of these waste streams. This makes Alkane an interesting play, as its zircon products offer an alternative to Chinese sources and without the issues of radioactivity presented by current producers using zircon.

DFI TO MOVE ON ZIRCON OPPORTUNITY Madagascar // Zircon Diamond Fields International Ltd (DFI) has announced that it has signed a conditional Purchase Agreement with Pala Investments Limited ("Pala") and Austral Resources Limited ("Austral") for the purchase of the Beravina Zircon deposit (the "Deposit") in Madagascar (the "Agreement"), subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Pala and Austral collectively own 100% of the issued shares of Action Mining Limited ("Action"), a Mauritius company and the parent company of the Madagascar entity holding the license to the Deposit. Under the terms of the Agreement, DFI, through its wholly owned subsidiary Kimberley Overseas, will acquire 100% of the issued shares of Action. In consideration therefor, DFI has agreed (a) to pay Pala US$300,000 (Cdn$391,878) cash and issue 3,265,650 common shares at a deemed price of Cdn$0.02 per share; and (b) pay Austral US$60,420 (Cdn$78,924) cash.

Beravina is a pegmatite hosted hard rock zircon deposit located

approximately 325 kilometers west-northwest of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. The Deposit is characterized by a small surface footprint, with the mineralized pegmatite describing a steeply dipping cone-shaped structure. A historical independent JORC compliant geological resource estimate on the property undertaken by Badger Mining and Consulting (Pty) Ltd. in 2012 estimated an indicated resource of 1.8mt at 29.5% zircon, open at depth. While the estimate was a consideration in the decision to acquire the deposit, the Company cautions that it is historical in nature and the Company is not treating such resources as a current resource under NI 43-101. Investors are further cautioned that a qualified person has not yet completed sufficient work to be able to verify the historical resources, and therefore they should not be relied upon. Limited metallurgical work undertaken to date indicates that the zircon ore can be liberated and concentrated by crushing and gravity separation.

EXCITEMENT GROWS OVER DEPOSIT DISCOVERY Cameroon // Feldspar The town of Bogou, located at the foot of Mount Tinguelin, around 15 kilometres from Garoua, capital city of the North Cameroon region, has been found to host an important deposit of feldspar. The information is revealed by the government paper Quotidien, which quotes the local director of the Mission for the Promotion of Local Materials (Mipromalo).

Achille Balo Madi however did not specify the capacity of this deposit.

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“We believe that the availability of this resource, and the potential implication therefore for the location of others of similar quality, could be the necessary first step towards the establishment of a rudimentary glass or ceramics business in the region, and will push Cameroon to the fore as a potential new investment destination for would-be manufacturers”.

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News Anaylsis

News

26

asian ceramics

Can the W.C. win Asia over?

S

uthep, a scruffy Thai day laborer, has a message for all you fancy people who sit down to empty your bowels.

“Sitting down on a toilet is weird,” says Suthep, 60, a native of Bangkok’s working-class Klong Toei neighborhood. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a big butt or a small butt. You’re going to touch the seat.

It’s just not clean.”

The sort of toilet this man prefers — essentially a tiled room with a hole in the floor — would cause many Westerners to reflexively clench up.

But if you favor the commode, heed his words. You are in the minority, not Suthep the squatter.

It appears that, globally speaking, toilet sitters are outnumbered.

“Here? In the slums? We squat,” Suthep says. “We’re busy. We’ve got to get back to work. Toilets are for rich people who can relax all day, reading the paper, like ‘Oh, I’ll just sit here and chill. No worries for me!’”

In the US, where practically everyone sits, toilets are a forgettable fixture. In parts of the world where squatters and sitters mingle, however, toilets can become entangled in culture and class.

Through Western eyes, a squat toilet can seem cumbersome. Or intimidating. Or just gross. But those are exactly the sorts of words many squatters conjure up when they stumble across a Western-style commode.

“Sit-down toilets are for big shots,” says Nakhon, a truck driver from Klong Toei. “But I don’t see how they’re more hygienic.

Especially if you clean your butt with paper. Using water seems cleaner to me.”

Squat toilets are common across Asia, Africa and the Middle East — just as they once were across the United States. Most are hooked up to sewage lines. Others are not.

Those who squat often use water from a nearby bucket or basin to clean themselves.

To flush, you just chuck a few

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pails of water into the hole — a method that forces waste down with gravity’s help.

Even in squat-friendly nations, health officials will sometimes promote the Western commode.

Bureaucrats often view it as more modern or, in the parlance of the United Nations, the marker of a “developed” country.

In China, for example, a campaign is underway to install commodes in public restrooms so that travelers can “avoid the embarrassment of using pit toilets.” In Thailand, health officials have launched a “master plan” to get commodes inside 50 percent of all homes and practically all public restrooms.

Their rationale: Squatting is hell on elderly knees — and Thailand needs commodes to help out its rapidly aging population.

Sit-down commodes are already common in Thailand’s middle-class homes. After all, a new toilet costs only about $100.

But in the countryside, and in poorer urban enclaves, many still view sitting on commodes as unnatural.

They wholeheartedly believe squatting is the superior method.

And they may be on to something.

“If you’re sitting, it’s difficult for the poo to come out,” says Yudhtana Sattawatthamrong. He’s a gastroenterologist at Bangkok’s Bumrungrad International Hospital, one of the top private medical facilities in Southeast Asia.

“When you squat,” he says, “biology works in your favour.”

His hospital, Bumrungrad, is a resort-like medical complex that attracts patients from across the world from Asia to Africa to the Middle East. There are no squat toilets there, only commodes and toilet paper. But Yudhtana has found that some people who are rich enough to travel abroad for medical care are also hell-bent on squatting.

“Some nationalities, they come to my hospital and see modern toilets,” he says. “What do they do?

They jump on the toilet and squat.”

Patients who perch on a Western toilet’s rim to squat over the bowl risk “big problems,” he says — namely collapsing the ceramic bowl and cracking their heads on the floor.

For life-long squatters, however, this appears to be a natural impulse. It’s common to find signage in Asia’s public toilets that warn against toilet perching.

Squatting has other downsides as well, Yudhtana says. “It causes wear and tear on the knee joints,” he says. “It puts a lot of pressure on the cartilage in your knee. It can even cause degenerative joint disease.”

Even in Bangkok’s Klong Toei neighborhood — home to many unrepentant squatters — age has a way of converting squatters to sitters.

“If you’re old, or fat, you need to sit down,” says Sui, a 57-year-old who works odd jobs. “I grew up squatting. But I’ve worked all my life.

Now my knees hurt. Who doesn’t want to sit down and relax?”

The best scenario, Yudhtana says, is making both squatting and sitting toilets available.

The country that has come closest to actualizing this ideal is Japan — a technological frontrunner with a massive elderly population.

Those lucky enough to wander into a Japanese public restroom may see a tidy squat toilet. Or they may also find an electric commode that sprays the sitter clean with satisfying jets of warm water. Or they may find both.

But few human beings are so fortunate. According to the UN, one-third of the global population lacks “improved sanitation,” which means they may rely on a bucket or dirt latrine. This leads to rampant disease — a crisis the UN rails against annually on “World Toilet Day,” when it tries to rally nations in a crusade against shoddy toilets.

However, these well-funded campaigns shouldn’t imply that squatting is doomed to a slow extinction. Even in the US, more people are embracing the benefits of squatting — albeit in a roundabout way.

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Analysis: ASEAN

Yogender Malik discusses some of the principal production trends emerging from South East Asia as the industry there comes under a range of wider pressures.

W

ith a population of more than 630 million people, ASEAN region is one of the most important markets and most global ceramic tile markets.

With a cumulative production and consumption in excess of 1.4 billion square meters, the ASEAN ceramic tile market has grown at very steady rates in recent years. Currently, the largest producer, Vietnam and Thailand are experiencing a sluggish market, but prospects of overall regional industry seem bright in the short and medium term.

Some of the manufacturing companies have made their place in top global ceramic tile producers. With more than five companies having an installed capacity in excess of 50 million square meters, the prospects of future consolidation in the regional tile industry looks evident. Planned and recent capacity expansions by a number of ceramic tile producers points to exciting times in the regional ceramic tile industry in coming days.

Currently, led by Indonesia and Vietnam and supported by Thailand and Malaysia, ASEAN tile manufacturing is steadily giving tough competition to Chinese tile imports in the region. Along with the capacity expansions, ceramic tile producers in the region have embraced state-of-the- art technology in an increasing manner.

These producers are second to none in producing larger format tiles and digital printed offerings, which has found great acceptance in

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their domestic markets. Though, currently some of the countries are undergoing a slowdown in ceramic tile consumption growth, but it has come after years of frisk growth and partly on account of global and regional economic slowdown.

ASEAN Economic Community ( AEC) has started to have its affect on ceramic tile industry of the region. Launched on December 31, 2015, the ASEAN Economic Community is tasked with integrating ten ASEAN economies, which together create a $2.6-trillion single market with over 600 million consumers. One area of focus for the AEC is establishing ASEAN as the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading production base with a free flow of services, goods, investment, and trade. With this in mind, ceramic tile producers in the region have already stepped up their mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and setting up operations in markets other than their domestic ones. Year 2015 and first half of 2016 witnessed three major merger and acquisition activities in the ceramic tile industry in the region.

Indonesia

Largest ceramic tile producer in ASEAN block, Indonesia is home to more than two dozen large-scale ceramic tile manufacturers.

Instilled capacity of Indonesian ceramic tile industry grew by 7.7% in 2015 to reach a total of 560 million square meters. However, since the industry was starting to show signs of decline, there was a

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Analysis: ASEAN

significant decline in capacity utilization.

From production and consumption point of view, Year 2015 was a tumultuous year for Indonesian ceramic tile producers. The country’s ceramic tile production registered a historic decline in terms of percentage. Though, Indonesia recorded economic growth by 4.79% on 2015 and was among the highest in emerging market economies. However, when compared to 2014, the economy slowed-down from 5.02% to 4.79% and most sectors, including construction and real estate, which had a cascading affect on ceramic tile industry.

Ceramic tile sales remained sluggish even in the first quarter of 2016 with total sales of around 90 million square meters in Q1-2016, stagnant from sales in the same quarter last year. In full-year 2015 Indonesia's ceramic sales plunged by more than 20 percent yearon-year (y/y) to 360 million square meters. The nation's ceramic industry has been plagued by Indonesia's slowing economic growth, particularly the slowdown in Indonesia's property sector.

Contrary to earlier predictions - Indonesia's property sector has not shown a real improvement in 2016 and therefore ceramic sales has not picked up yet. Indonesian tile producers hope to see a rebound in the second half of 2016 on the back of accelerated economic growth. Government-led infrastructure development, which is estimated to be the key ingredient to push Indonesia's economic growth up to 5.3 percent (y/y) in 2016, should give a boost to property development and ceramic tiles consumption.

According to Elisa Singa, Chairman of the Indonesian Ceramic Industry Association (ASAKI), “We are confident the current downward trends will reverse in second half of 2016. Indonesia is pushing through large-scale infrastructure and residential construction projects, which will boost ceramic sales in coming years.” Given expectations of improving macroeconomic conditions, ASAKI expects to see Indonesia's ceramic sales rising to around 11 percent to 400 million square meters in 2016.

Muliakeramik Indahraya (MKIR), Arwana Citramulia and Platinum Ceramics Industry ranks among the largest ceramic tile producers in the country. Muliakeramik has an annual production capacity of 62 million sqm, while Arwana Citramulia's output is around 58 million sqm with its latest expansion in East Java. Both companies are publicly listed (Muliakeramik as a subsidiary of Mulia Industrindo), and both have seen rapid growth since their establishment in the early 1990s and are engaged in further expansion of their installed capacities. Privately owned Platinum Ceramics Industry has been in business since 1971 and increasingly looking at export markets in addition to home market.

Besides these three, leading ceramic and building materials producer from Thailand, Siam Cement Group of Thailand has also acquired a significant scale in Indonesian market. SCG acquired a 93.51 % stake in leading floor and roofing tile producer, Kia Ceramics at the end of 2011. Currently, SCG has two more subsidiaries in Indonesia: PT. KIA Keramik Mas (SCG ownership 99.21%), a manufacturer of ceramic roof tiles located in Cileungsi – Bogor and Gresik – Surabaya, and PT. KIA Serpih Mas (SCG ownership 86.68%), a manufacturer of ceramic floor tile located in Cileungsi – Bogor and Karawang.

A rapid growth in domestic installed capacity in recent years along with a drop in demand in 2015 has pushed down prices of ceramic tiles and threatens to erode profit margins at least until demand catches up with supply. According to ASAKI, oversupply has caused prices to fall by more than 30% in East Java, where most of the additional capacity is entering the market.

Despite the large size of country’s ceramic tile production

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Ceramic Tile Production in four major ASEAN countries Country

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Indonesia

360

455

413

385

361

Vietnam

384

365

350

330

345

Thailand

259

267

249

235

224

Malaysia

101

94

92

86

80

Ceramic Tile consumption in four major ASEAN countries Country

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Indonesia

353

404

382

358

340

Vietnam

327

300

292

276

290

Thailand

231

241

229

212

198

Malaysia

94

88

87

80

76

capacity, Indonesian ceramic producers have largely failed to tap export markets due to high production costs. Although the Indonesian government announced to lower gas and electricity prices for labor-intensive industries in an effort to support these industries amid the economic slowdown (this was part of the government's third economic stimulus package, unveiled in October 2015), energy prices remain high and causes Indonesian ceramic tiles to be more expensive compared to tiles produced in other ASEAN nations.

Vietnam

Vietnamese ceramic industry’s rapid growth in last decade has taken the global ceramic tile industry by surprise. Rapid capacity expansions by existing players and new players have catapulted the ceramic tile production in the country to new heights. The country is neck-in-neck in competition with the largest producer of ceramic tile producer, Indonesia. In comparison to the other three prominent producers in the region, Vietnam enjoys the lowest cost of production on account of cheapest labour cost in the region.

Low cost model of the country has made ceramic tile producers in other countries of the region to enter into joint venture with local tile producers in order to take advantage of low cost of production in the country.

Catered by five large, about a dozen medium and 30 small producers, Vietnamese ceramic industry has registered the healthiest growth rate in last few years among the ASEAN countries.

In 2015, the country’s ceramic tile production and consumption grew by 5.5 and 9 % respectively.

In a major move in country’s ceramic tile manufacturing, leading Thai Ceramic producer, Siam Cement Group acquired remaining 15 per cent stake in the largest Vietnamese tile producer, Prime Group ( SCG already had 85 % of the company) for a consideration of 2.19 billion baht . Following this acquisition, Prime Group has become the wholly-owned subsidiary of SCG. “This is a good opportunity to become the market leader of ceramic tiles in Vietnam. Prime Group recorded total revenue of 8.3 billion baht in 2015, showing high demand,” according to SCG’s president and CEO Rungroj Rangsiyopas.

Siam Cement Group (SCG) become a major shareholder in Prime Group in December 2012. At that time, the Thai company

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Analysis: ASEAN

had acquired 85% of Prime Group shares Leading ceramic tile producers in Indonesia for 7.2 billion baht (about US$240 million Installed Company Manufacturing Location/ s according to then exchange rate of USD and Capacity Baht) to become the world’s biggest ceramic PT Keramika Indonesia Associasi and Karawang ( West tile manufacturer. The co-operation between 35 million sqm Cileungsi, BogorJava) (Kia Ceramics ) Prime and SCG enabled both the companies Tangerang and Serang (both in West to share the knowledge and know how to put PT Arwana Citramulia Tbk 58 million sqm Java), Mojokerato and Gresik (East the company in bracket of top notch ceramic Java), and Indralaya (South Sumatra) tile producers with an extended reach in PT Chang Jui Fang Indonesia ( CJFI) 6 million sqm Medan ( Nort Sumatra) distribution and technology adoption.

Another major producer ( Chang Yih) has Keramik Diamond Industries 12 million sqm Surabaya invested significantly in its production line to offer product differentiation. In 2015, the company spent US$1 million on three color Platinum Ceramic Industries 46 million sqm Surabaya, Gresik and Bekasi 3-D printers and almost $1 million on hightech pressing machines in order to produce PT Muliakeramik Indah Raya 62 million sqm Tangerang and Mojokerato high-end products.

According to Tran Van Sinh, Deputy PT IntiKeramik Alamasri Industri Tbk 14 nillion sqm Tangerang General Director of Chang Yih Ceramics, “We have spent a lot on new technology to catch Roman Ceramic 10 million sqm Surabaya up with new trends. Our production lines were imported entirely from those countries PT. Asri Pancawarna 12 million sqm Ibukota that have a strong ceramic tile industry such as Italy and Spain, costing millions of dollars.”

PT. Saranagriya Lestari Keramik 9 million sqm Jawa Barat He further adds, “ Leadership in the premium segment, with the aid of new statePT Sandimas Reksakeramika Granito 8 million sqm Jakarta of-the-art technology will help the company Factory cash in on premium property projects by PT Industri Keramik Kamenangan Jaya 8 million sqm East Java domestic and foreign investors, which have high demands for tiles with high quality, good tile producers are expecting a strong demand in ceramic tile designs and competitive prices. consumption in the country in the short and medium term.

Several property giants in Vietnam such as CotecCons, Cofico Despite, the smaller size of its domestic tile market, Thailand and Singapore-owned Capital Land have trusted Chang Yih as has been able to produce one of the largest global ceramic tile their ceramic tile provider, which strongly confirms the company’s producers. Country’s leading business conglomerate, Siam position in the local high-end segment.”

Cement Group’s ( SCG) ceramic tile division , with a total installed capacity of 225 million square meters ( From its operations in Thailand Catered by five major and about a dozen smaller ceramic tile Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia) has emerged as one of the top producers, Thailand’s ceramic tile industry is smaller than global tile producers. SCG has made a number of acquisitions of Indonesian and Vietnamese tile industries. Country’s ceramic tile small and big ceramic tile producers in recent years in Indonesia, industry suffered a decline in terms of production and consumption Vietnam and Philippines. in 2015 as compared to 2014 figures. The overall sales volume Malaysia in the country decreased by 4% due to the slowdown in the construction activities on account of general economic slowdown Buoyed by the healthy construction sector, Malaysian ceramic tile and political instability prevailing in the country. manufacturing grew by 7.5 % in 2015. Though, compared to its Major cause of ceramic tile consumption decline in Thailand was three other regional peers, Malaysia is the smallest ceramic tiles the economic decline in 2015 and less than expected purchase market in ASEAN region. However, country’s higher per capita of ceramic tiles in the rural areas.. The prices of agricultural tile consumption in the region has kept the tile production in the products, including rice and para rubber which are the major country in good a good state and has brought cheers for domestic economic products of Thailand, suffered a decline as a result of ceramic tile producers. Buoyed by strong growth in Malaysian the global economic recession. Since, a large section of ceramic construction industry (Malaysian construction industry has achieved tile consumers are from this section of society, it affected the total a double-digit growth for the third straight year since 2012 based on volume sales of ceramic tiles in Thailand. However, on the cost front, the number of projects undertaken), Malaysian ceramic tile industry ceramic tile producers have benefited from the lower fuel prices. On is undergoing through a period of steady growth. Although, ceramic an average, the price of natural gas has been lower by 25- 30% for tile production and consumption in Malaysia has slowed down tile producer, resulting in a huge saving for the ceramic tile industry. moderately in the first half of year due to a similar slowdown in the Siam Cement’s ceramic tile division, SGI, Dynasty Ceramics, The country’s construction sector.

Union Mosaic Industry Limited ( UMIL) , Thai- German Ceramic Dominated by four major and about a dozen smaller tile Industry and The Royal Ceramic Industry PCL are major tile producers, Malaysian ceramic tile producers have been significant producers in the country and accounts for a lion’s share of total spenders on technology and product differentiation in recent years. production and sales. After a forgettable 2015, most of the ceramic Kim Hin Industry Bhd, White Horse Bhd, Seacera Group and Yi Lai

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www.asianceramics.com

e-mail, mpb@mariopilato.com

Analysis: ASEAN

Bhd dominate a lion’s share of organized tile market in the country.

The 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020), launched by the Government in May 2015, with the aim of becoming a high income nation by end of year 2020, which includes a series of large scale infrastructure projects to be rolled out by the Government has put a great optimism among country’s ceramic tile producers. These mega projects include commercial, as well as new affordable housing schemes, which would lead to a steady growth rate for the ceramic tile industry over the coming years.

In order to capitalize on the opportunity in domestic tile market, leading tile producer, Kim Hin Bhd has acquired a smaller tile ( Johan Ceramics) manufacturing plant in the first half of the years.

For the financial year ended 31 December 2015, the company made a significant improvement in its revenue to RM367.4 million from RM313.4 million recorded for the preceding financial year ended 31 December 2014. The growth of 17.3% in the Group’s revenue was achieved on the continued growth in all geographical segments of the country.

According to Kim Hin Group’s Chairman, Chua Send Huat, “The international economic and financial landscape is likely to remain challenging in 2016 and will be a key factor that will influence the prospects of the Malaysian economy, posing both upside and downside risks to the ceramic tile producers.”

He further adds, “The Malaysian economy is expected to grow by a slower pace of 4.0 - 4.5% in 2016. In particular, the growth momentum in the construction sector is projected to moderate slightly in 2016 amid a modest expansion in both the residential and non-residential sub-sectors.”

Another leading tile producer, Yi-Lai Industry Bhd , which is based in Johor, has been banking on the development activities in Iskandar region for the growth of its business.

White Horse, which is also based in Johor, has expressed confidence that it will be able to ride on the wave of ongoing construction and housing development projects in the country this year. From an initial set-up of only two kilns, the company’s manufacturing capacity has steadily increased to fifteen kilns.

Together with the company’s additional facility in Vietnam, White Horse has an annual production capacity is 55 million square meters.

The group says, “The strong performance of the construction and property sectors is expected to continue , largely supported by the civil engineering and residential segment.

The positive development in construction and property sectors in Malaysia portrays a positive outlook for the prospects in the ceramic tiles industry.”

Another prominent producer, Malaysian Mosaic Bhd Sdn, which is among the oldest tile producers in the country has emerged as a key player in domestic market. The company ventured into mosaic tile production in 1964. In a major revamp, MMI entered in porcelain tile production in 1991 and has since grown into a reputed producer of ceramic tiles in the country. The company operates three production plants at Kluang, Johor with an installed capacity of 8 million sqm of ceramic tiles.

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Leading ceramic tile producers in Vietnam Company

Installed Capacity

Manufacturing locations

Vigalcera Corporation

26 million sqm

Hanoi

Vigalcera Hanoi Joint Stock Company

9 million sqm

Bac Ninh and Hai Duong

Prime Group JSC

70 million sqm

Binh Xuyen and Vinh Phuc

My Duc Ceramics Company Limited

6 million sqm

Ba Rian Vung

Guocera Tile Indusries ( Vietnam) Company Limited

6 million sqm

Dong Nai

Dong Tam Ceramics & Tile Company

6 million sqm

Dong Nai

Royal Ceramics Tile Company Limited

5 million sqm

Ho Chi Minh City

Chang Yih Ceramic Joint Stock Company

7 million sqm

Dong Nai

Cosevco Ceramic Tiles JSC

5 million sqm

Danang City

Toko Vietnam Company Limted

4 million sqm

Hung Yen

Thach Ban JSC

4 million sqm

Hanoi

Vitaly Joint Stock Company

8 million sqm

Binh Duong

Leading ceramic tile producers in Thailand Company

Installed Capacity

Manufacturing Locations

Dynasty Ceramics

70 million sqm

Saraburi

The Union Mosaic Company PCL

35 million sqm

Nongkhae district, Saraburi

Thai German Ceramics Industry PCL

18 million sqm

Saraburi province

The Royal Ceramic Industry PCL

10 million sqm

Bangkok

Leading ceramic tile producers in Malaysia Company

Installed Capacity

Manufacturing Locations

Kim Hin Industry Bhd

27 million sqm

Sarawak

White Horse Bhd

55 million sqm

Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in Johor

Seacera Group Bhd

12 million sqm

Kamunting, Perak

Malaysian Mosaics

8-9m. sqm

Kluang, Johor

8 million sqm

Johor

Yi- Lai Bhd

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Analysis: Gao’An

GAO’AN

greening issues cause difficulty In our penultimate tile profile, we move to Gao’An – an area of China that after the boom seems now to have hit the buffers.

C

eramic tile industry entered a war for environment protection at the beginning of 2015. Some ceramic enterprises were forced to close down kilns and even go bankrupt due to the failure of adapting to this “new normal” economy. However, ceramic enterprises in Pan-Gao’an production region managed to maintain an overall stable production and sales under this new economic situation in 2015.

At the marketing summit forum of the first "PanGao’an" ceramic procurement festival, Hu Yao, marketing general manager of Taiyang Ceramics said frankly, “ceramic enterprises in Gao’an production region had a relatively comfortable life this year. ” Luo Qun, general manager of Luosifu Ceramics also said that the kilns will be shut down after December in most ceramic enterprises in Gao’an, and the production and sales of ceramic tiles in Gao’an are good.

Having analysed the ceramic tile production and sales in Gao’an for the whole year of 2015, the reporter came to an appropriate conclusion that there is still fierce competition in products homogenization, especially in polished tiles, interior wall tile and fully polished glazed tiles. Meanwhile, the pace of new products development is accelerated with diamond thick polished glazed tiles and marble tiles products becoming new favorite of large enterprises.

Besides products development, ceramic enterprises in Gao’an tried new models in construction of marketing channels and brands upgrading, set up marketing departments, seek cooperation with professional training companies and professional planning companies in 2015.

Margins under pressure

The reporter often heard a lot of enterprises bosses complaining, “Life is hard but we have to live it year after year.” At the end of 2014 when the kilns shut down for the Spring Festival, many insiders said, “some enterprises cannot able to start kilns next year definitely.

Besides, the starting time of kilns will be postponed. ” However, most Gao’an’s ceramic enterprises started production around 8th

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January of the lunar calendar, except for several enterprises failed to start kilns and even went bankrupt. After the beginning of the spring in 2015, Gao’an’s ceramic industry saw its first selling boom season in March and April, with demand exceeding supply. Zhen Biao, the marketing manager of Ruiyuan Ceramics, said that “Our selling has been maintaining in high demand since the Lantern Festival, and we made the best daily selling record in early March. There are dozens of trucks lining up for shipment every day. Besides, our price system maintains the most stable. ” Although during slack season, when several ceramic enterprises in Foshan were forced to close down and go bankrupt, sales of some ceramic products in Gao’an maintain stable.

According to some ceramic enterprises bosses in Gao’an, enterprises in PanGao’an production region have developed stably in 2015, even with some growth although ceramic tile industry shown a new development trend with new problems.

Hu Yiheng, president of Taiyang Ceramics, told the reporter that “Our company has achieved output growth of 10%.” Tao Guanghui, president of Ruiyuan Ceramics, also said that after acquired New Gaofeng Ceramics this year, capacity of 4 lines have been increased in the second half of 2015, with daily capacity over70,000 square meters, which contributes to the growth of output value in 2015.

Entrepreneurs of some enterprises, such as Taiyang Ceramics, Ruiyuan Ceramics, Luosifu Ceramics, Huashuo Ceramics and Jinsanjiao Ceramics, said that they all have achieved certain increase in production and output value in 2015, which not only derived from capacity increases, but also from products sales of high value.

Price competition continues to be a hot topic although enterprises in Pan-Gao’an production region did relatively well in 2015. Xie Xiangjun, marketing general manager of Huashuo Ceramics, told the reporter with a sigh, “Our sales have been out of stock in March.

Some high value products even are confronted with the difficulty of scheduling production, plus prices of ordinary polished tiles are relatively low, so there are barely profits to be made by enterprises and dealers.” Besides, Ruiyuan Ceramics even sent proposal of restricting

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COMPLETE OR SELECTIVE METALLIZATION OF CERAMIC TILES BY SPRAYING Green technology Easy industrialization Low technology barrier Resulting in high performance layers

Contact information JET METAL TECHNOLOGIES

4, RUE JEAN ELYSÉE DUPUY

Phone + 33 (0)4 78 33 20 02

info@jetmetal-tech.com

69410 CHAMPAGNE AU MONT D’OR www.jetmetal-tech.com

FRANCE

Analysis: Gao’An

production for maintaining prices to the dealers.

Even so, polished tiles and interior wall tiles still failed to withstand market pressures with prices dropping down continuously after entering off-season. Prices of fully polished glazed tiles have been falling since then.

According to incomplete statistics, there are over 30 production lines of fully polished glazed tiles in total, among which 10 lines were built up or reconstructed in 2014. However, although fully polished glazed tile is the fresh product, many enterprises failed to draw great benefit from selling it before being pushed into the bottom of price as the price has fallen from the initial average price of RMB 27 per piece to RMB 19 per piece.

As many insiders have commented, ceramic entrepreneurs of Gao’an are good learners, learning and adjusting in both products and selling constantly.

For instance, during the second quarter this year, when most enterprises in other producing regions were forced to shut down kilns due to huge inventory pressure, the number of shutdown lines in Pan-Gao’an region is less than that last year. Besides, when many enterprises focused on how to get through off-season and digest inventories, most ceramic entrepreneurs and professional managers in Gao’an production region were concerned with how to transform and upgrade. A professional manager of the region said, "there is no significance of emphasizing sales-output ratio for an enterprise at present, and the more important is what the enterprise is doing and how to do? Finding its right direction is the most important."

In terms of products, when fully polished glazed tiles are no longer the favorite of profits, the marble tiles and diamond glazed tiles begin to spring up in Gao’an production region.

Product upgrades

At the opening ceremony of the first Pan-Gao’an ceramic procurement festival, new products released by 6 enterprises in Gao’an were awarded “New Product” by the local government. These new products, including tempered micro-crystal tiles of Taiyang Ceramics, marble tiles of Luosifu Ceramics, 9-carat diamond tiles of Huashuo Ceramics, micro-crystallized mirror interior wall tile of Shenzhou Ceramics, large size slim ceramic tiles of Fuligao Ceramics and flat roof tiles of Jiayu Ceramics, have effectively showed the innovation capacity of Gao’an’s ceramic enterprises. In addition, besides the awarded new products of 6 enterprises, products such as polished tiles, interior wall tiles, polished glazed tiles and exterior wall tiles flourished in Gao’an.

In fact, many enterprises in Pan-Gao’an production region have been producing some differentiated products to avoid homogenization competition since last year. Many powerful enterprises, such as Taiyang Ceramics, Jingcheng Ceramics, Huashuo Ceramics, Ruiyuan Ceramics, Luosifu Ceramics and Jintaiyuan Ceramics, have been striving hard to improve their sense of innovation and promote product development capacity, and have become the main force to promote product innovation in this region.

As a new favorite in this region, marble tiles were firstly released

by Jingcheng Ceramics in Jiangxi production region at the end of 2014.Chen Xuping, marketing director of the enterprise, said that “the enterprise has been coping with market competition by products differentiation. We can maintain a stable price system and market network when there is a fierce price competition at present, owing greatly to products innovation. ” In 2015, enterprises such as Jinsanjiao Ceramics, Taiyang Ceramics and Luosifu Ceramics also released their own marble tiles soon afterwards. Some enterprises also stated that marble tiles will be preferred new products in next year.

In this ceramic procurement festival, besides ordinary products, the reporter also found that many enterprises had made innovation on products colors and types. For example, besides marble tiles,

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Jingcheng Ceramics also has exhibited a large amount of rustic tiles of cement series with various specifications. Besides, thick exterior wall tiles of New Cene Ceramics and gold gilding tiles of Luosifu Ceramics were displayed as well.

Wang Beihuang, marketing general manager of Aobama Ceramics, said that the development of new products in Pan-Gao’an production region is now keeping pace with that in Foshan and Shandong production regions. Although the technical innovation of products is not prominent, rapid development on innovation of product design and technology has achieved

Brand building

Our reporter heard the word “channel” very often at many interviews with enterprises bosses and managers in Gao’an. During the “Tour Forum of Pan-Gao’an Production region”. We interviewed with 10 ceramic entrepreneurs and most of them mentioned channel construction, and some enterprises had already in action. Luo Laizu, president of Jingcheng Ceramics, said that “As long as there is a good channel, brand will accordingly be built.”

Luo Qun, general manager of Luosifu Ceramics' also said, “This year, besides maintaining stable production and sales, most enterprises in Pan-Gao’an production region have added plenty of resources on developing new products and landing channels.”

All enterprises in Pan-Gao’an production region are confronted with the following problems: products innovation, channels landing and brand following up. However, selling channels of the entire region are concentrated on the third and fourth level markets, and most of the enterprises regard wholesaling as the main channel, supplemented by retailing and project selling, with ceramic exports just starting. But Taiyang Ceramics, Huashuo Ceramics and Luosifu Ceramics begin to seek for breakthrough for sinking channels by starting a new trend of building up exclusive stores and exclusive areas. Meanwhile, export becomes the new direction of opening up channels for some enterprises. Ruiyuan Ceramics puts forward the thought of constructing channels by encircling the cities from the rural areas.

As a successful enterprise in export channels, Jingcheng Ceramics achieved export value of RMB80 million for single brand. Taiyang Ceramics has also established its own export company in this year.

Jinsanjiao Ceramics also has achieved a good selling in Indian market.

Xie Xiangjun, marketing general manager of Huashuo Ceramics, said that although it is a long and hard way to achieve product branding, it continues to be the development direction of the enterprise. The enterprise has completed the unification of brand images on over 100 terminal networks across the country so far and has signed up with a design company to establish exclusive stores for next step. Besides these marketing strategies, Huoshuo Ceramics released N2- micro crystal tile in June this year under the fierce price competition of full-flat glazed products, which further improved its product grade and meanwhile achieved differentiation from many glazed products at present.

Luo Qun, general manager of Luosifu Ceramics, also said, “we will mainly focus on internal system upgrading this year, especially the establishment of marketing department will lay root for the development and promotion of new products. At the end of this year, we have achieved a success on promotion of glazed marble tiles.

Channel construction will be a major priority in 2016, which has already been in action.”

In 2015, enterprises in Pan-Gao’an production region had gone through economic changes without undergoing great adventures.

This year was a turning point for many enterprises, which made many enterprises get rid of large-scale development and enter a new transforming and upgrading period in terms of product structure, products innovation, channel construction and brand influence.

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26-30 SEPTEMBER RIMINI - ITALY

Analysis: Jiajiang

JIAJIANG

credit issues drive down market As our province profiles draw to a close, we move to Jiajiang – one of the lesser known areas for tile manufacture in the country.

2

015 was the most difficult year for Jiajiang’s ceramic tile industry. Imbalance between production and sales and excess capacity have become the most headache problem for almost all ceramic tile enterprises. Having had a sales boom at the beginning of the year Jiajiang production region has been in a long period of poor sales, with no sign of getting better by the end of this year. However, it is encouraging that some ceramic production lines are newly established even in such a weak market.

Generally speaking, production and sales of ceramic tile in Jiajiang production region are featured with “poor sales”, “overcapacity” and “excessive inventories” this year.

Operation of new lines brings about further growth of capacity

In the second half of 2015, Zhufeng Ceramics and Sofia Ceramics, two enterprises in Jiajiang high-end Ceramic Park, started up their news lines at the end of November. It is assumed that this is the successful conclusion of starting up new lines of 2015. To the surprise, when the reporter interviewed with Sichuan Guangle Ceramics, Lin Hua, marketing general manager, said that a new super-flat glazed ceramic tile line will be put into production by the end of this month, with products being produced before the Spring Festival.

According to the number of lines in commission and capacity of a single line, the reporter concluded that the daily capacity of fully polished glazed tiles, exterior wall tiles and western roof tiles grow by 120,000 square meters, 45,000 square meters and 35,000 square meters (291,667 pieces), respectively in Jiajiang production region in 2015.

Compared with those in previous years, the ceramic tile production in Jiajiang grows a little. The output for the first three quarters has reached 90% of the total output last year according to the statistics released by Jiajiang government.

Jiajiang has made remarkable achievements in terms of construction of new production lines this year. According to statistics, Jiajiang has successfully constructed nine new lines in total this year, including four fully polished glazed tile lines, one interior wall tile line, one western roof tile line, two exterior wall tile lines and one sanitaryware line. Furthermore, there are one line under construction and two lines in plan.

After the start of the year, the newly constructed ceramic tile lines in Chanel Ceramics (Guangle branch), Shengshi Dongfang Ceramics and Kangrong Ceramics went into production, kicking off the operation of new constructed lines. Afterwards, the fully polished glazed tile line with the capacity of 30,000 square meters went into production in Jingxiang Ceramics, followed by the western roof tiles line with the capacity of 35,000 square meters in Milano Ceramics. So far, all new lines constructed in the first half of the year have already gone into operation.

Jiajiang ceramic industry saw a temporary sales boom for the first quarter of the year, when many enterprises had managed to get rid of last year’s excessive inventories, with stock out in some enterprises. However, good times didn't last long and since June sales of ceramic tiles had declined continuously, bringing about great sales pressures for enterprises.

During the most sluggish sales of ceramic tiles from June to September last year, our reporter visited some enterprises in Jiajiang, Danling, Weiyuan and Jingyan regions and learned that many dealers had stocked up ceramic tiles for improving their inventories at the beginning of the year and brought in a sales boom. However, after suffering the sluggish period, they began to stock up rationally and cut orders, leading to great sales pressures of ceramic tile enterprises.

During surveys conducted in Chengdu’s terminal markets in August 2015, the reporter visited several building material malls, such as Fusen-Noble House (north), Yehome, Dagang Building Materials and Woll et al, and found out that the sales in terminal markets was also sluggish, barely seeing any customers in stores.

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Sales pressures multiply

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Analysis: Jiajiang

Zhou Kaijie, an agent of Milano Ceramics in Chengdu, said that sales of ceramic tiles in Chengdu was unusually tough this year, and promotions could only lead to losses this year, instead of driving sales growth in previous years.

In addition, Zhou also told the reporter that he had held inventories at least over RMB 20 million, so did many dealers in Chengdu.

Afterwards, the reporter interviewed sales managers of Guangle Ceramics, Milano Ceramics and Jiangxiang Ceramics, and learned that terminal market was a barometer of ceramic tile selling. The poor sales in terminal markets can certainly bring about increasing sales pressures to enterprises, some of which fail to withstand these pressures were forced to go bankrupt, that's why the shutdown of kilns in large-scale appears during July and September every year.

Severe overcapacity

During busy season, ceramic tile enterprises will greatly improve production capacity to meet market demands, while they will compress capacity during downturn period to relieve inventory pressures and further achieve balance between production and sales. Influenced by the gloomy industry, severe overcapacity of ceramic tiles appeared in Jiajiang this year.

“Viewing the current market situation, all enterprises’ inventories in Jiajiang are sufficient to meet market demands without further production within three months,” an experienced marketing manager in the production region told the reporter. Several new lines with large capacity have been constructed in Jiajiang in recent years.

The daily capacities of ceramic tile, fully polished glazed tile and western roof tile reach 50,000 square meters, 35,000 square meters and 35,000 square meters, respectively.

Lately, the reporter learned that Jiajiang’s overcapacity in this year is more serious than those in previous years. Under the circumstance of poor terminal sales, there is still a daily capacity increase of 200,000 square meters, which further exacerbated overcapacity pressures in Jiajiang.

During the sluggish period, the reporter visited Huangtu, Xinchang, Ganlin and Ganjiang in Jiajiang, where located many ceramic tile enterprises, and found that many enterprises shut down lines partially or completely. In addition, the reporter also found that the warehouse of Yuxing Ceramics was full and the surrounding area of the plant was also filled with ceramic tiles. The factory re would be full of tiles within ten days if the enterprise didn't stop production timely although the piled tiles were loaded on one or two trucks every day. There are a lot of enterprises like Yuxing Ceramics in Jiajiang, some of which even rented farmland to store tile products for relieving great inventories pressure.

Credit crunch

Under the double pressures of poor sales and excessive inventories, some enterprises took risks to open credit granting to dealers, with the credit limit bigger and bigger.

So far, scaled ceramic tile enterprises in Jiajiang began to grant credits to their dealers, with the credit limit extending from millions to tens of millions Yuan. At the end of the year, many enterprises put off the production suspension and further increased credit limit to relieve serious inventory pressures.

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According to the survey in ceramic tile enterprises in the region, the reporter found that almost all ceramic tile enterprises are reluctant to open credit granting to dealers. However, influenced by the poor sales in the ceramic tile market and serious inventories pressures, some enterprise attempted to seek premium dealers by granting larger credit. Then, enterprises were forced to open credit granting to hold their customers, making credit limit like a snow ball over time, which would definitely bring in huge loss to enterprises.

As we all known, credit granting is a double-edged sword, which can help enterprises to relieve excessive inventories during the early period, but it brings about huge risk of collecting payment later.

Once dealers failed to complete payment timely within the agreed time, enterprises’ cash flow will be evaporated, which brings about great dangers to the survival of enterprises. It is said that a ceramic enterprise in Danling is currently confronted with serious operating difficulties due to its previous large-scale credit granting to dealers.

A few days ago, in the visiting of several large brand owners in Jiajiang, the reporter found that enterprises have been maintaining credit cooperation with brand owners with small credit line all the time, with complete payment in time. So enterprises always give the credit to some dealers appropriately.

However, under the current gloomy market this year, dealers are unable to complete payment within the stipulated time, bringing about financial crisis to enterprises.

Tile price drop

Affected by the market adjustment, prices for interior wall tiles, rustic tiles, fully polished glazed tiles and polished tiles began to fall sharply in Jiajiang region this year. Except for a rise at the beginning of the year, ceramic tile prices have been dropping down rapidly since June this year.

At present, interior wall tile of 300×600mm series, fully polished glazed tiles of 800×800mm series and polished tiles of 800×800mm series are sold at RMB 2.5-3, RMB 20 and RMB15 per piece, respectively, in Jiajiang production region.

To insiders’ surprise, Jiajiang spent only two years to transform from previous dependency on Shandong to independent development in fully polished glazed tiles. During this period dozens of fully polished glazed tile lines were constructed, making the capacity of fully polished glazed tiles grew at full speed. However, such irrational development laid great dangers to the following price declining in a new round of competition.

So far, the price of full y polished glazed tile of 800×800mm series has dropped to RMB 17 per piece.

The price for the interior wall tile dropped as well. It is said that the price for interior wall tiles was up and down this year.

It grew to RMB3.6 per piece (300×600mm) at the beginning of the year and dropped to RMB3 per piece afterwards and stabilized at RMB2.5-2.8 per piece.

During the survey, owners of several large ceramic tile enterprises, including Shengshi Dongfang Ceramics, Jianxiang Ceramics and Aosibao Ceramics, told the reporter that the price of interior wall tile is close to the cost price already. So production lines with the capacity of less than 30,000 square meters are afraid to produce interior wall tiles any more, and many production lines with the capacity of 10,000 square meters are reconstructed to produce small floor tiles and border tile et al.

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26-30 SEPTEMBER RIMINI - ITALY

Analysis: Trade

ISOLATION ISLAND WILL BREXIT BE THE THIN END OF THE WEDGE?

In a departure from his normal column, William Hunter discusses the effects of the recent BREXIT vote in the UK on the global ceramic industry, and how supply chains may become ultimately disruptedâ&#x20AC;Ś

B

rexit. Its become a word, a movement and a game changer. It also appears as of writing (July 2016) to have cause a tectonic shift in British politics and has had a massive impact on the economy and society.

How much more effect it will have is hard to say as every day is a new announcement of financial implications or a resignation or a leadership battle in one of Britain's political parties. Indeed as I'm writing the news feed fills with more announcements and changes.

How did the United Kingdom (?) get to this state and where is it likely to go. I'm trying to make some sense of it though I don't live in the UK and could not vote in the referendum myself. However even having an opinion on whether to Brexit or Bremain has split families, age groups and tested the longest lasting friendships. Britain hasn't seen anything like it since The Wars of the Roses! It's also clear that there was no plan for an exit and there still isn't. So lets just walk this back a little and try to understand what is going on.

The UK has been in the European Union (previously called the European Economic Community) since 1973 (a move supported by 73% of voters). It hasn't always been the easiest of relationships with some, maybe many in the UK decrying how much money the UK has

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to contribute to the EU (the UK is the second biggest economy by GDP in the EU), how undemocratic the EU is, how much regulation and legislation it can impose and how much the free passage of people might negatively effect the UK through 'uncontrolled immigration'. Whilst ignoring how many from the UK emigrate into the EU or work there.

Misconceptions?

Many of these fears and concerns are unfounded or misunderstood.

The EU is seen as a behemoth that is hard to control and it has suited the various political parties to pander to these beliefs to divert attention from their own failings. Of course it is not all unfounded concerns and in the past the UK negotiated rebate and some terms & conditions applicable to the UK including controls on immigration, free trade deals and cutting regulations. Never mind avoiding ever closer union, lessening the EU Human Rights influence in the UK and restrictions on migrants benefits. Clearly not enough to convince Eurosceptics in the Tory (Conservative Party) that the UK was getting a fair deal. Given that a relatively new political party (UKIP, United Kingdom Independence Party) had recently been founded which appealed to Right Wing populist ideology and hard Eurosceptics.

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Analysis: Trade

The Conservatives were faced with a problem; if they allowed the Eurosceptics to go unchecked they could leave and join UKIP, if they didn't answer populist right wing complaints they would lose vital votes which may harm The Party in a general Election. Because of this there was a potential for infighting between the Tories causing a leadership battle that would force the party further to the right.

So – how would you handle this challenge if you were the Prime Minister? Would you attempt to debate and convince your party and the voting population that the UK / EU deal was good and that moves to independence and a harder right ideology would result in chaos?

No – you'd gamble everything on a referendum where a simple 'Yes / No' (Remain or Exit) answer would satisfy all of these concerns once and for all and, once won the Eurosceptics & UKIP would be rendered impotent and inconsequential.

Playing politics

But then it got tricky. Firstly the choice of the word Referendum which infers legally binding, rather than Plebiscite which would have inferred opinion. This leads to confusion when the Referendum was described 'non legally binding advisory vote'. It's either one thing or the other – it can't be both. It also wasn't made clear if the vote would have to be then debated on and passed by parliament via the Houses of Commons and Lords before being signed into law by The Queen. That's how the British parliamentary system is supposed to work especially over such complex and far reaching issues that unfortunately do require skills and experience and knowledge covering everything from workers rights to health care to passports to trade agreements to trade tariffs. Neither were thresholds set for voter turn out and winning margin; all things that could later be legally challenged. And still maybe.

Next given the social and economic situation in the UK going back now to the 1980's there are many groups, classes and communities that feel left behind and ignored. All of these groups have felt let down by the government in Westminster and were looking to protest and cause a change. As one commentator put it – 'If you have nothing and you are being offered uncertainty or nothing then uncertainty looks attractive.'

Thirdly the campaigning itself. As mentioned the EU is a very complex institution and offers advantages and disadvantages to membership, its consequently hard for a lay person to understand. Laws, regulations, due process, political machinations, relationships, the number of languages, cultures, suspicions and fears, policy; where do you even begin to work out if it is better to Remain or Exit? In this respect the Remain camp was left to use fear to emphasize the risk of leaving the EU and hard fact & figures – this information and negativity presented by politicians that are despised by many of the common people who have been disadvantaged in recent years. Also the Labour Party (traditionally anti EU anyway) were hardly inspiring in their arguments to Remain. Add to that the Remain camp couldn't actually promise to improve the EU as the EU itself said no new deal would be on the table – effectively closing the door itself on any development or improvement. Pretty much a slap in the face for the UK. On the other hand the Exit camp, far more animated and inspired (and it appears not even expecting or actually wanting to win) could give reasons to escape the monster of the EU; more money for the NHS, less of those hateful regulations, greater democracy and perhaps most chillingly in its simplicity and potential effect a promise to limit immigration, or even to reverse it. These arguments made whilst not explaining how it would be done and sometimes exhibiting a willful ignorance of how the EU works and what Britain's options would

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WITHOUT A PLAN, A FRAMEWORK AND A TIMESCALE ALL MANNER OF RUMOURS AND ACTIONS COULD RESULT actually be after exit. Or how long it would take or how much it would cost. But certainly whereas the Remain camp had little exciting to offer the Exit camp could offer lovely simple solutions to complex problems with absolutely no explanation of how to achieve these targets. They didn't need to – they didn't expect to win – they just wanted to lose by enough to change the Tory Party.

All in the mind…

It is worth now thinking about the voters’ mindset. A lot has been made of the fact that more older people voted for Exit and a higher % of young voters wanted to Remain. But this ignores the fact less young people voted and more older people did. Also younger people are growing up in an interconnected world with few boundaries, more insecurity and news ways of thinking and doing business. Being part of the EU and its advantages is all they know. Older people have seen both the loss of industry and communities since the 1980's and the austerity and erosion of the social welfare system, education, health services, pensions and such since 2008. Never mind the privatization of public companies for the gain of corporations or the very rich. Not least the disaster of privatized rail or essential services Post, water & power. There is a great deal of resentment not least towards the established political parties and to the government in Westminster where MP's are seen to earn great salaries, receive great perks and manage to both have their snouts in the troughs of (abused) expense accounts and shady connections with vastly wealthy unelected corporations and the media.

To this we should add that the UK voting system in an election means that voters vote for a party and the party chooses its leader. The first past the post system means unless you are in a constituency that has a narrow margin between parties & hence may swing one way or the other then your single vote means very little. In this Referendum your vote might well be the winning vote! Such power!

Finally the largest number of voters are in England but the other areas have over the last few years seen power devolve from Westminster to Scotland, Norther Ireland & to an extent Wales.

Scotland even had a referendum on remaining in the UK. English voters finally had a chance to vote and show their displeasure. So this vote was also a protest vote and not just at or about the EU. The press of course is about circulation figures and advertising.

Mostly it has little interest in facts or reasoned argument; certainly in the mass circulation 'tabloid' class. It does want though to protect its status, and influence voting especially given much of the populist press has its profit centers based in places like the BVI in holding companies that mean they do not have to pay tax in the UK. It is to their endless shame again, yet again, that they stirred up hatred

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Analysis: Trade

of immigrants and printed falsehoods to achieve their aims though what they will do now they've achieved this is anyone's guess.

I will not discuss the press anymore but to note that the brutal murder of Jo Cox MP at the hands of a right wing extremist was in part due to the vilification of immigrants irrespective of whether they were illegal, legal, refugees or asylum seekers and the scorn poured at people or groups that tried to help, support or understand them. The press encouraged the referendum to be a protest vote and it played on the worst populist views and policies.

A final note must be made of a peculiar English trait which is part of our psyche for over a thousand years; the belief in a golden age, or good old days, or a better time when we were more equal, things were more just, there was more opportunity and things were better – suddenly people could actually vote for this mythological ideal. We have no idea why we believe in this mythical utopia or why we think now is worse than then or why the future would be better if it was more like then and less like now. Our definition of progress is certainly strange.

Stand up and be counted

So, protests votes, insecurity, years of austerity, unrealistic expectation, media manipulation, over simplification of the issues, a lack of an exit plan, a lack of inspiration or ideas about how better to Remain and an Exit vote which appealed to people with all manner of disillusionment and various demands. It's amazing really the vote was close especially as the Brexit group had greater funding 54% versus 46% which given the actual result of 52% versus 48% is an interesting coincidence.

As the results came in, after the British Pound for a few minutes rose in value in expectation of a Remain vote it became chillingly obvious that the % Exit votes in areas where Exit was expected but only by a little were too large for Remain to win. Within hours it was clear that 52% of the people that voted for Exit had gotten what they voted for. Some people in UK awoke expecting Remain to have won and were shocked that Brexit had won. These people clearly didn't follow social media, which for weeks had seen far more activity and commentary from the Brexit side.

Within a few hours though, in the mornings’ news programmes the architects of the Brexit campaign back tracked on their promises. No they didn't really mean there would be more money for the NHS, no they didn't know of immigration could be reduced, no there wasn't a plan to exit or a timescale nor did they know what it would entail nor what it would cost. Never did The Winners in a competition looked so eviscerated and glum as The Losers. Of the so called leaders no one had got what they wanted. With the exception of UKIP who by winning had neatly made themselves irrelevant to the future. Now their aim is to Exit as fast as possible, with the same lack of planning as they had for exiting at all, and their leader was so confident about this he resigned.

Since then a the Labour Party has faced a coup and much destructive in fighting, we have seen a PM resign, a Chancellor of the Exchequer make a presentation four days after the vote that, '... honestly there is a plan and everything is in hand..' – he was swiftly fired after the Tory Party sort of elected a new Prime Minister (and

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that is of course as undemocratic a system of appointment as the EU itself). UKIP has lost its leader the other Brexit leaders found reasons & excuses to not deal with the aftermath until one of them, a man who did so much to insult foreigners during the debate found himself Foreign Minister of the new government. Although the new PM, Theresa May has said that Brexit means Brexit and the EU have also stated clearly they want this to move forward as soon as possible there is still no plan as to how this will happen or when. Some are saying a minimum of 6 years.There is still no vision of what Britain will be like after the Exit or how it will impact business and society. The FTSE 100 may have recovered from its record losses but that reflects big companies who have US$ earnings and diversified risks.

The FTSE250 (smaller companies therefore) hasn't, the GBP has lost value and its clear that a lot of people now whether politicians or the common folk are uncertain what will happen. Alarmingly the vote was seen as a vindication of the far right extremists and they have considered that this has legitimized their hateful actions.

The uncertainty alone is the issue. Nature abhors a vacuum.

Without a plan, a framework and a timescale all manner of rumours and actions could result. But the shear size and complexity of exiting means that a generation may be lost whilst the required laws & legislation and trade deals are put in place. Not just in Britain – education is now a big UK business – will foreign students still want to come to Britain? Business the UK was a great jumping off point into Europe for many countries and companies. With no free trade or freedom of movement will it still be attractive? Britain may still be a significant and large economy but not as large as the EU, how will it negotiate these supposed beneficial new deals in an increasingly competitive global market? For sure people will want to do business with the UK but under what terms? Their terms?

The future?

Will the UK even last? Already Scotland is considering having another referendum and the 'Better Together' slogan of the 'In' camp from the last referendum won't seem so appropriate next time.

I think of the ceramic industry – the EU ADD on ceramic tiles and tableware which has benefited EU manufacturers, UK manufacturers – will Britain be able to negotiate deals like that?

Did people realise in their blighted communities that often it was EU funds that were used for revitalization? As we are ever more international due to communication and global trade deals will Britain's young generation be restricted in their development and potential? Will British manufacturers still be able to export into the EU trading block freely or face tariffs? Will international companies thus prefer to move manufacturing out of the UK? What will the UK be?

Did Britain, looking for simple answers to complex problems that had been not been addressed for 25 or more years just vote to be less influential and more isolated? Or was this by accident a work of unrecognized genius to rid the UK of its out of touch politicians, undemocratic alliances and give it a chance to restart and build something better?

We live in interesting times. Sometimes maybe too interesting.

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Analysis: Ink-Jet

F THE DECORA O TIO CK O N ST

ION LUT VO RE

CHIN AT AK ES

INK-JET ISSUES

AC rounds up the current state of the ink-jet printing industry in China, and how it has changed in the last 12 months.

Technology and Ink of Ceramic Ink-jet Printing Machine 2014 has witnessed a small climax at the beginning of the year in domestic ceramic industry, a period of dullness in the first half and a gloomy end in the second half of the year. The ceramic industry is no exception to the impact posed by Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall economic New Normal. So are the widely used ink-jet printers and its ink, whose development in 2014 is also affected. In particular, the domestic production of ceramic ink is also affected, which makes ink enterprises endeavor to promote the quality of ceramic ink, reduce the price and improve the technology.

Machinery considerations

Ceramic ink-jet printing technology was brought into China in 2008. In May, 2008 Hope Ceramics Machinery in Nanhai District of Foshan developed the first ink-jet printer for ceramic tile decoration in China. In the second half of 2009, Hangzhou

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Nabel Group adopted the Spanish Kerajet ink-jet printer to decorate ceramic tiles, becoming the first to launch an ink-jet tile business in China. Ink-jet printing equipment has experienced a growth from 2011 to 2012, undergone a rocketing development in 2013, and entered the mature stage in 2014. The number of ink-jet printers used in commission in 2010 is 12 and the number increased to 100 in 2011 and 2,636 by the end of 2014.

From the number of ink-jet printers used in production regions, Guangdong, Shandong, Fujian, Jiangxi and Sichuan rank the top five, with the national ink market shares of 20.6%, 19.11%, 13.51%, 9.67% and 6.42%, respectively. Chinese ink-jet printers are mostly exported to India and Vietnam. So far, the total number of ink-jet printers used in India is 450, among which 200 are Chinese brands and the others are European brands such as Cretaprint Kerajet and Tecnoferrari, while the total number in Vietnam is about 60, among which 12 are Chinese printers.

Domestic ink-jet printing enterprises made great improvement in the stability and performance of the devices. The production

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Analysis: Ink-Jet

of ink-jet printers came to mature with innovation, with the price gradually decreasing.

Printer brands

Having experienced an explosive growth for two years, the manufacturer industry of ceramic ink-jet printers dropped in 2014, with the market demand down and the price competition severe. The whole industry has entered a stage of restructuring where some brands have withdrawn entirely or in half way from the market this year. There are 9 domestic enterprises and brands producing and selling ceramic ink-jet printers, including Hope, Meijia, New King Time, Teckwin, Flora, Kingtau, Sinid, Donghai and Gongzheng, while there are 7 popular foreign brands of ink-jet printers, such as B&T, System, Durst, SACMI and Tecnoferrari from Italy as well as Kerajet and Cretaprint from Spain.

The top three domestic brands continue to take most of the market share, accounting for about 70%. This year foreign brands fell by 10% in the market share for the advantageous in price and service of domestic equipment. However, due to the shrinking of the domestic ceramic market, the market tends to be occupied by a few brands, leading to a more intense competition in the future.

Print head markets

The competition of ink-jet printers is in fact the competition of print heads. At present, only enterprises from three countries, including UK, Japan and the United States, have the capacity to produce print heads, while enterprises produce ink-jet printers in Italy, Spain and China cannot produce heads. Popular print head brands are XAAR, Seiko, Polaris, StarFire, Toshiba and Konica et al, among which XAAR print head occupies the largest proportion of 80% (70% of global market share) in China.

Though the price is high, the production history of XAAR print head is over ten years and around 6000 sets of equipment are in commission, according to a statistical data estimated by the end of 2014. With the unique bottom circulation technology, the print head increases the adaptability of ink and makes it easy for maintenance since no serious blockage. XAAR print head has eight gray levels which also makes itself in the leading position in print fidelity, fitting the market mainstream of simulating the nature very much.

Ink production

By the end of 2015, the demand for ink from domestic ceramic enterprises was around 2,000 ~ 2,200 tonnes per month. The first domestic enterprise that carried out independent research and production of ink for ceramic printing is MRIS. They launched their product into the market in March, 2011, followed

by Mindst Technology in May, 2011 and Dowstone in April, 2012.

Domestic enterprises and European enterprises purchase from the same raw material suppliers, adopt similar equipment and follow the same production process and testing standards, so that the quality of domestic ink is very close to that of foreign ink.

For the popularity and application of ink-jet technology, colors and varieties in ceramic tile market have changed dramatically.

In 2014 the listed company Shandong Sinocera acquired and merged with Create-Tide to establish Sinocera Create-Tide, continuing to make contribution in domestic poduction of ink for ceramic printing.

At the end of 2014, Dowstone was successfully listed on the GEM which started a prosperous future of domestic ink production

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Ink distribution

There are about 20 domestic enterprises producing ink including Dowstone, Mindst, Create-Tide, MRIS, Bohua, Wanxing, Yuanmu, Mingmo, Yanke, Taozheng, Jinying, Seqian, SRC, Huilong, Zhengda, Dahong, Huilong, Fenglin, Yongkun and so on, while only about 10 brands can be seen in the market. Dowstone and Mindst are the earliest ones for mass production in the market, which have maintained a high market share as domestic brands, and CreateTide (Botao) ink also had a strong growth. Therefore the three ink enterprises can produce and sell over 500 tonnes of ink per month. 3 to 4 more enterprises can produce and sell about 100 to 250 tonnes per month while the rest enterprises only have the capability of less than100 tonnes per month.

There are 8 imported brands or foreign-funded enterprises, including Itaca, Torrecid, Ferro, Colorobbia, zschimmer-schwarz, Megacolor, Metco and Fritta, among which Torrecid and Itaca are in the leading position in the national market while the other five are only applied in regional markets.

Ink market share

From 2013 to the end of 2015, the market share of Chinese ink grew from 15% to over 50%, marking that Chinese ceramic industry has entered the era of ink domestic production. Chinese brands have obvious advantages in service and business conditions. Domestic ink enterprises can establish a service network throughout the country and can help cliets in the shortest time with its perfect service system, which is one of the reasons why many ceramic manufacturers choose Chinese ink.

In terms of the occupancy of foreign brands, Itaca is always in the leading position not only among foreign brands but also among all the brands available in China, taking up the current market share of 30%~35%. Reasons are various: the mature technology development of the imported ink has great advantages in stability and color. It has a strong product development capacity and the full range of color matching level. The majority of imported ink got certifications from large print head enterprises which enable them to have a good compatibility and matching with products, heads and equipment. This is important reasons for the ceramic enterprises to use imported ink brands. Until now, no Chinese enterprises have surpassed Itaca in the long-term stability of their product. Although in recent years prices have plummeted in the ink market, Itaca ink price is still the highest and always ranks the first in market share.

Price trends

When imported ink entered the domestic market in 2009, the price was as high as hundreds of thousands of RMB per tonne.

But at the beginning of 2014, the average price of imported ink dropped to RMB130, 000 per tonne and was less than RMB100, 000 per tonne at the end of the year. The main reason is that the development and expansion of domestic ink forced the price of imported ink to decline. But the price of domestic ink also dropped, whose biggest drop was from 2013 to 2014, with a decline of about 50%.

Technologies

The ink for ceramic printing mentioned above is an oil-based product which is made by wet-on-dry method. There are 8 to 12 types of imported oil based ink which can be used for the production of ceramic tiles. A production line generally is installed with 4 to 8 colors. The key point of oil-based ink research is to

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Analysis: Ink-Jet

promote color (strength) and stability in application as well as reduce costs, with the key of improving the Magenta (Pink) and Orange (Beige Ochre).

The technology of oil-based ink comes to maturity, and ink products with conventional colors are universal and standard, which means that ink from majority of manufacturers are interchangeable.

New color ink There are no significant technological breakthroughs or innovations of colors and varieties in the ink-jet technology in recent years.

Recently Zschimmer-schwarz has launched new color products of green and magenta. The magenta color product can adapt to different finishing burn temperature, make up shortage of reddish brown ink as red colour medium and increase ink color range of products. Now the new ink is used in the production lines of large ceramic enterprises, such as Shuncheng Ceramics, Dongfang Ceramics and so on. INCO, an Italian enterprise, has developed a new green color ink which featured with dark green color and low cost of Beige Ochre. This new ink system, which is called “Easy” ink, is non-toxic, environmentally friendly and stable in 6 months of storage under 20℃.

Functional ink

To meet customers’ various and personalized demands, ink enterprises developed functional ink with matte, bright, metallic, penetrating, glossy and other decorative effects. Combined with innovative product design, ceramic enterprises can create value-added products through effective use of special effect of functional ink. At present, ceramic enterprises have strong demand for penetrating and glossy effect. The quality of functional ink is similar to ordinary ones, even with fewer requirements than the conventional ink.

Many Spanish ceramic tile enterprises made innovations in the decorative effects of ceramic tiles with functional ink, especially in wall tiles. Torrecid has developed a sink effect ink, matte effect ink, white ink, noble metal effect ink and glaze protective ink, et al, which are used by Italian and Spanish ceramic enterprises as well as over 20 Chinese ceramic enterprises. The first two kinds of inks are usually used for interior wall tiles while the white ink is suitable for rustic tiles. Special effect inks Nova 4.0 developed by Ferro has the particle distribution size of 3μm with usage of 150g/m2. DPM submicron series developed by Esmalglass Itaca are suitable for oilbased ink in the ceramic production and sales, such as sink glaze, matte glaze and bright glaze. If the size of solid particle is under 1μm, the usage of these materials is generally under 100g/m2.

The application of functional ink on rustic tiles can improve the decorative effect but it doesn’t work well on polished tiles.

Insufficient investment in design, research and technology limited the application of functional ink in China so that more Chinese enterprises choose to follow others’ steps.

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Grinding technology

High-capacity stirred ball mills are being more displayed at exhibitions, such as large sand grinding equipment with the capacity of 60L and 120L produced by Dongguan Longly Mill, which laid the foundation for stability and scaled production of domestic ink for ceramic printing. Experimental statistics also showed that the grinding efficiency of rod type stirred ball mill is significantly higher than that of the turbine or disc type structure mills. Keram-INKS 4.0 ceramic ink is produced through a new grinding system, which adopts a combination of different models of grinding machine and, ensuring uniform size distribution of gridded ceramic color material particle, leaving much less < 0.5 m particles compared to current methods.

Other technologies

Domestic ink production is relatively extensive form, in which the basic formula of traditional ceramic pigments can be used for the production of ink for ceramic printing after being processed with certain technology. At present, enterprises make fine adjustment and selection of solvent, dispersant and ceramic pigments for different ink products according to the different requirements for solid content and viscosity.

In addition, the quality of domestic ceramic ink can be promoted by improving the ceramic pigments processing technology. The raw materials used in formula directly affect the color and the conductivity of pigments. For example, mineralizer added is bad for ink production, but the color cannot meet the standards without it. Therefore, lowering finishing burn temperature and improving reaction activity of ceramic pigments without using mineralizer can be achieved by increasing finishing burn temperature and using raw materials with higher initial fineness.

Processing before the ink goes into the grinding machine is also a key technology. Choosing proper pre-dispersing processing is another key technology in improving ink quality.

Water-based ink

Water-based ink will be the next popular ink-jet material. The ceramic industry will strive to make a transition from oil-based ink to water-based ink in the next two to three years. Series problems such as low solid content of oil-based ink, easy precipitating solid particles, weak color (strength), hard drying, large stickiness and easy block of the head, can easily affect the production of ceramic tiles. Water-based ink will bring in a large impact on ceramic enterprises using oilbased ink and oil-based ink producers. The salinity in the water-based ink is corrosive, but neither to the print head nor raw material of ceramic tiles.

Zschimmer-schwarz waterbased ink has been used by Italian ceramic manufacturers in large quantity for over 8 months for the features of

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Analysis: Ink-Jet

good color, wide range of color and finishing burn temperature.

It not only greatly reduces the defects of various kinds of color and line of production, but also is more convenient for the machine to cleaning and maintenance.

Water-based ink developed by Ferro (under Lab experiment) has pigment particle size from＜1μm to 3～10 μm, with the ink usage increasing from 60 to 800g/m2. It is stable in storage and application, with highly stable color. Up to now, Ferro has developed 10 varieties of water-based ink. DPM micronseries produced by Esmalglass Itacat are suitable for print head of high ink volume, whose usage is generally greater than 100g/m2 with the particle size ＞3μm. This series won ALFA DE ORO award in 2014 CEVISAMA ceramics exhibition.

There is a big difference in physical property between waterbased ink and oil-based ink, so that the parameter adjustment of the ink-jet device may also be relatively large. The key lies in the matching degree between the water-based ink and the print head, but highly matched print head for water-based ink are not available. For users, high volume of ink is required when using water-based ink. In addition, using water-based ink means that ceramic enterprises have to make a large adjustment to the production lines, leading to great pressure of higher cost, which needs longer time for promotion. But there is no doubt that the water-based ink is the future trend.

Digital jet glazing

Digital glazing or digital jet glazing transformed from concept into reality. Companies such as Ferro, Esmalglass Itaca and Colorobbia amongst others have successfully developed glaze for jet process and applied to industrial production, which is a revolution of glazing process. Using jet method to replace pouring glazing, spraying glazing, swinging glazing and roll glazing method can save glaze materials, shorten the glaze line and achieve different texture patterns without mould, rapid development of new products and flexible production to reduce the cost. Digital glazing or digital jet glazing will bring in new business opportunities for glaze, ink-jet printer enterprises and ceramics enterprises. Colorobbia cooperated with INTESA of SACMI in the first half of 2014, tested C-Glaze in the digital jet glazing machine and carried out the pilot scale production. Glazing amount is 200 ~ 1,000 g/m2, suitable for the production of different processing technologies (for wall and floor tiles). Inks Nova 4.0 developed by Ferro is used for digital jet glazing and has the particle distribution size＞5μm and amount of 500g/m2. The glaze liquid used by digital jet glazing has low viscosity, good rheological property and large particle size, with the glazing amount of 300 ~ 800g/m2. It creates new microstructure on the surface of ceramic tiles and new effect.

The equipment and technology of digital jet glazing is mature, but the sum of the cost of materials, print heads and operating is much higher than profits obtained from the ceramic tiles, so that it is not acceptable to the market.

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Full-digital glazing line

The blueprint of new digital glazing line was displayed in 2014 Italy Rimini exposition, making attendees’ eyes brightened. However, there are technological, cost and market problems for the overall application of full digital technology to the ceramic tile surface decoration so that it wouldn’t pose great impact on mass-production ceramic enterprises in the near future.

Domestic research

In recent years, more than 200 papers about ink-jet printers and ink for ceramic printing have been published, so do 2 Foshan ceramics published two supplements: “Compilation of Practical Production Technologies of ceramic Ink-jet Printing” and “Compilation of Practical Technologies of Ink-jet Printing in Wall and Floor Tile Production”. And the standard of “Ink of Ink-jet Printing for Ceramic Decoration” (Guangdong provincial standard) was published.

Ceramic ink development

Every coin has two sides, so does the ink-jet technology. The development of ink-jet technology is one step towards digital progress for the whole industry, which is considered as a milestone, but for many enterprises, this is also fatal. Ink-jet technology makes it easy to design, produce, research and innovation. However, it is easy to plagiarize when the technology is digital and intelligent. When some enterprises launched new product designs in the market, some others would get the tiles and scan the pattern and input it to the ink-jet printers for mass production.

In addition, if you want to achieve a richer effect and better color, you need to mix the different technologies. Compared to domestic ink manufacturers, foreign enterprises focus more on concept presentation and practical experience. The latter tend to provide the solution of the overall space design, highlighting the effect of the end products. They also attach great importance to expanding the applications in ceramic sector to make ceramic enterprises better understand a variety of ways and methods in the application of relevant products. In Europe, enterprises like System, Siti B&T and SACMI will not carry out innovative research and development alone.

Firstly they research and understand the demand of the market, and then achieve product develop solutions through equipment enterprises’ research and development. Fundamentally speaking, the market has created demand.

Last but not the least, the existing capacity or planned capacity of ceramic ink surpasses the market demand. The market expansion, the increase in demand and sales cannot cover up the decline of overall sales and profit. Ink enterprises must make efforts in improving the quality and stability of the products and integration of its own industry chain so as to survive in the fierce market. In recent years, functional ink, water-based ink, metallic ink and other products have become the focus of research and development, and the standardization of production has gradually been promoted. So, we can expect that the ink industry will be a lot worse off by the end of the current year. Brand recognition and concentration will be valued more.

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Analysis: Tile Trade

OPEN FOR BUSINESS ACCESSING CHINAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MAIN MARKET

Despite fears that all the country seems to do is export huge quantities, AC looks at how tile imports into China continue to evolve and develop,

F

or a long time, the imported tiles and domestic tiles are generally independent of each other, but they are sometimes applied together by the designers in home decoration. The last version of CERSAIE in Italy and the 1st Agents ExchangeMeeting of Imported Tiles from Italy in Beijing, which was held on 29th Mar, 2016, became the dividing crest of Chinese market development in the imported tiles. It also led a new round of the expansion of tiles imported with original packing in China.

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Stage 1

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen were the first four stops of the imported tiles arriving in China. The first piece of imported tiles was introduced to Guangzhou by Rongwei Company. Companies from Hong Kong and Macao are mainly dealing with most of the imported tiles in Guangzhou. As a free port, Hong Kong charges zero tariffs. Only need to pay the customs registration charges, and this free port opened a more convenience gate compared to other ports for tiles made in Italy to enter China market.

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Analysis: Tile Trade

In 1999, the first batch of rustic tile with European pastoral style was introduced in Beijing, and it also represented that IMOLA entered China market. Since then, it has become the synonym of “imported tiles” in China for over one decade. This was the first stage of the development of imported tiles in China.

In fact, at that time, the reasons why Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou & Shenzhen were able to be the few cities which could consume the imported tiles are very simple. First of all, they contained adequate purchasing power. Second, located

in the coastal line, these cities keep open-minded cultural precipitation which led them easier to accept imported goods.

Import development

The 2nd stage started from 1999 to 2014.

Along with the rise of economy distribution in different provinces of China, the strategy to occupy the capital of province urged IMOLA, RAGNO, AMBIO and MARAZZI to start their layouts of the 1st tier cities apart from Beijing, Shanghai,

Choosing your source Tile Source: Xinjiang Company

Location

Tile line & capacity

Total capacity

Number of inkjet printer

Year established

Xinjiang Alamu Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Tiechanggou Town

1 floor/interior wall tile line: 10,000m2/d

10,000m2/d

1

2004

Xinjiang Hongli Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Tiechanggou Town

1 small floor/interior wall tile line: 16,000m2/d

16,000m2/d

1

2004

Xinjiang Ouyadi Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Changshanzi Town

1 interior wall tile line: 11,000m2/d

11,000m2/d

1

2004

Xinjiang New Century Floor Wall Tiles Co., Ltd.

Changshanzi Town

2 exterior wall tile lines: 20,000m2/d

20,000m2/d

1

2002

Xinjiang Xin'ao Art Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Changshanzi Town

1 border tile line: 1,200m2/d

1,200m2/d

1

2004

Miquan Zhongte Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Changshanzi Town

1 interior wall tile line: 8,000m2/d

8,000m2/d

2004

Xinjiang Xinhua Tiancheng Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Changshanzi Town

2 floor tile lines: 20,000m2/d

20,000m2/d

2003

Xinjiang Atlantic Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Changshanzi Town

1 interior wall tile line: 8,000m2/d

8,000m2/d

2002

Xinjiang Yabao Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Sandaoba Town

1 floor tile line: 12,000m2/d； 1 interior wall tile line: 8,000m2/d

20,000m2/d

2003

Urumqi Jinhuibang Industrial Co., Ltd.

50 Jiangou Road

1 exterior wall tile line: 10,000m2/d；1 floor tile line: 12,000m2/d

22,000m2/d

1

1999

Yili Henghui Ceramics Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

001 Central Asia Ceramics Base

2 interior wall tile lines: 36,000m2/d; 1 endurable tile line: 18,000m2/d

54,000m2/d

4

2010

Xinwen Mining Group, Yili Taishan Yangguang Building Materials Co., Ltd.

Sec,A, Yidong Industrial Park

2 polished tile lines: 20,000m2/d

20,000m2/d

Yili Jinpai Mingzhu Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Yidong Industrial Park

1 interior wall tile line: 30,000m2/d

30,000m2/d

Xinjiang Xinruizhou Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Yidong Industrial Park

1 interior wall tile line: 20,000m2/d

20,000m2/d

Xinjiang Xinfuxiang Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Jiangsu Industrial Park, Qingshuihe Development Zone

1 rustic tile line: 16,000m2/d

16,000m2/d

Aksu Kangxing Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Yingbing Road, Wensu Town

1 interior wall/crystal tile line: 20,000m2/d

Aksu Best Ceramics Co., Ltd.

West Idustrial Park

Kashi

Kashi Yuandong Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Changji

Xinjiang Huajian Ceramics Co., Ltd.

City

Urumqi

Yili

Aksu

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Plan

3 lines planne

2008

2015

3 lines planne

2015

3 lines planne

1

2010

3 lines planne

20,000m2/d

1

2004

1 interior/exterior wall tile line: 20,000m2/d

20,000m2/d

1

2013

Central & Southern Asia Industrial Park

2 interior wall tile lines: 20,000m2/d

20,000m2/d

1

2007

Minchang Hi-Tech Industrial Park

1 interior wall tile line: 18,000m2/d; 1 western roof tile line;108,300pcs/d

15,000m2/d; 108,300pcs/d

1

2008

6

2 lines planne

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27/07/16 18:26

Analysis: Tile Trade

Guangzhou and Shenzhen. At the same time, followed Beijing, Shanghai stood out from the big cities with the most consuming awareness. A lot of Chinese general agents were set their office in Shanghai. Such as GARDENIA ORCHIDEA, they had the most stable price of the brands whose price were above RMB 1,000/sq.m at that time.

Affected by the earliest models of Guangzhou and Shenzhen (which are dealing with several imported brands in one agent) and the characteristics of European factories(every factory produced one specific kind of tile, except companies like MARAZZI), there appeared the general agents of multi-brands such as MINGJIA(the agent of the series of VERSACE tiles), MYHOME(the agent of brands such as IMPRONTA & ITALGRANITI & others), USCER(the agent of brands such as VIVES & others), MEDICI(the agent of brands such as REFIN & others),etc. In this stage, the market share of imported tile in China was only 1%.

Since 2005…

In fact, the change was caused after the new trend shown on CERSAIE 2015. At that time, Europe was still deep in the economic crisis, and Chinese ceramics companies began their competition in grappling each other with low-profit.

Many Chinese agent went abroad to visit CERSAIE and the European manufacturers. Also, due to the float in both currency and tariffs, European manufacturers placed their growth expectation in China market.

CERSAIE in 2015 triggered a very important discussion - it also rose the question which China ceramic sector were talking about, that was “Apart from polished tiles, other products were almost similar with European products.

Now the imported tiles were ready to jump into China market with a very competitive price. How

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can Chinese brands survive under these situation?How can this news possibly be worse?”

In 2014, distribution pattern of Chinese general agents changed in their location which Foshan became another city for the imported tile agents. Brands such as Tonino Lamborghini Tiles & Style, Rex, CK and MARAZZI branch agent have come to Foshan, where is the strongest production area of China ceramic tiles and also the most flexible part of sales policy and business concepts.

Import selection

In China, the Italian tiles pastoral style and Spanish pattern tiles occupied a significant period. However, after that, every new trend brings attention and deep thoughts in the following changes, and even influence the business operation of some companies.

As the strongest production area in China, there was almost zero importer of foreign brands of tiles in Foshan(located in Guangdong Province) previously. But many professional research personnel in imported tile were hiding in this place. No doubt it would be related to the previous imitation of models in that 4 big cities, however, they still put many attentions and research works in imported tiles. In particular, they know what kinds of tiles, sizes, patterns and technology from Italy and Spain are better-tailored to its home market.

Obviously, the modern color, gray becomes the popular trend in these years. But in different way, this color trend is not coming from Hong Kong or Macao; instead, it just goes straight forward from Euro directly to China. Thanks to the Chinese designers who often go abroad to learn and exchange the ideas. They bring the European trend “All to be Simple” into China, such as cement tile and thin slab, which led China makes a faster synchronization with the world.

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EXHIBITION PREVIEW

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EXHIBITION PREVIEW

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

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Analysis: Tile Trade Choosing your source Tile Source: Guangxi City

Company

Location

Tile line & capacity

Total capacity

Wuzhou

Guangxi Xinzhongtao Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Xinzhongtao Building Industrial Park

6 polished tile lines: 120,000m2/d

120,000m2/d

Guangxi Ruiyuan Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

3 interior wall tile lines: 90,000m2/d

90,000m2/d

15

2011

Guangxi Xinduo Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

2 interior wall tile lines: 40,000m2/d; 2 polished tile lines: 32,000m2/d; 2 fully polished glazed tile lines: 24,000m2/d; 1 micrpcrystalline tile line: 8,000m2/d

104,000m2/d

1

2011

Guangxi Yuhao Building Materials Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

2 interior wall tile lines: 60,000m2/d; 1 fully polished glazed tile line: 15,000m2/d

75,000m2/d

12

2011

Guangxi Jiahemei Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

1 endurable tile line: 15,000m2/d; 1 rustic tile line: 15,000m2/d; 1 polished tile lines: 15,000m2/d

45,000m2/d

2

2011

Guangxi Hongjun Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

2 rustic tile lines: 30,000m2/d

30,000m2/d

3

2011

Guangxi Baofuli Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

2 interior wall tile lines: 60,000m2/d

60,000m2/d

4

2012

Tengxian Zhongyi Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Cunping Industrial Zone

2 polished tile lines: 23,000m2/d

23,000m2/d

Tengxian Hekang Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

1 interior wall tile line: 50,000m2/d

50,000m2/d

Shenghan Huangchao Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

3 lines planned

Guangxi Mingying Building Materials Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

Under construction

Guangxi Xinnuo Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

Contract signed

Dihao Building Materials Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

Contract signed

Xinda Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

Contract signed

Nanning Wuxing Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Zhonghe Ceramics Concentrating Zone

Contract signed

Guangxi Jinshajiang Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Jinzhu Town Ceramic Industrial Park

3 polished tile lines: 60,000m2/d

60,000m2/d

2011

5 lines planned

Guangxi Wuzhou Yuanfang Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Jinzhu Town Ceramic Industrial Park

3 exterior wall tile lines: 30,000m2/d

30,000m2/d

2011

5 lines planned

Chenxi Xindongli Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Guwancun Industrial Park, Daye Town

3 rustic tile lines: 45,000m2/d

45,000m2/d

2011

Chenxi New Jianqiu Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Guwancun Industrial Park, Daye Town

3 exterior wall tile line: 45,000m2/d

45,000m2/d

2010

Chenxi Xinhongji Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Sili Industrial Park, Guiyi Town

2 fully polished glazed tile lines: 30,000m2/d

30,000m2/d

Chenxi Mingjue Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Shancun Industrial Zone, Malu Town

1 rustic tile line: 15,000m2/d

15,000m2/d

2014

Guangxi Beiliu Zhipeng Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Min’an Town Industrial Zone,

2 exterior wall tile lines: 15,000m2/d

15,000m2/d

2008

Guangxi Beiliu Yuexing Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Min’an Town Daily Ceramic Industrial Park

2 endurable tile lines: 58,000m2/d

58,000m2/d

2010

Guangxi Xingaosheng Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Min’an Town Daily Ceramic Industrial Park

2 terracotta panel lines: 16,000m2/d

16,000m2/d

Yulin

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AC 16-7

Number of inkjet printer

7

2

4

Year established

Plan

2011

1 line planned

2 lines planned

2011

1 line planned

2014

3 lines planned

2010

2012

1 line planned

3 lines planned

www.asianceramics.com

Analysis: Tile Trade Choosing your source Guangxi Beiliu Yongda Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Minâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;an Town Daily Ceramic Industrial Park

2 rustic tile lines: 22,000m2/d

22,000m2/d

2007

Guangxi Changcheng Building Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Xijiao Industrial Zone, Rongcheng

2 endurable tile lines: 30,000m2/d

30,000m2/d

1995

Guiping Gaogui Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Longmen Ceramic Industrial Zone

2 exterior wall tile lines: 30,000m2/d

30,000m2/d

2011

Guangxi Linghai Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Longmen Ceramic Industrial Zone

3 polished tile lines: 75,000m2/d

75,000m2/d

2010

Guiping Guiping Dacheng Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Longmen Ceramic Industrial Zone

1 rustic tile line: 20,000m2/d

20,000m2/d

2011

Guangxi Guiping Xinjinsheng Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Longmen Ceramic Industrial Zone

2 rustic tile lines: 40,000m2/d

40,000m2/d

2011

Guangxi Xinquanye Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Longmen Ceramic Industrial Zone

4 interior wall tile lines: 100,000m2/d; 2 polished tile lines: 40,000m2/d

140,000m2/d

Laibin

Guangxi Laibin Shenghan Huangchao Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Qianjiang Overseas Chinese Farm

1 rustic tile line: 22,000m2/d

22,000m2/d

Nanning

Guangxi Wuming Qixing Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Chengxi Industrial Park, Yiling Industrial Concentrating Zone

1 fully polished glazed tile line: 12,000m2/d; 1 rustic tile line: 6,000m2/d

18,000m2/d

Guangxi Asiaeuro Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Chengxi Industrial Park, Yiling Industrial Concentrating Zone

2 rustic tile lines: 45,000m2/d

45,000m2/d

Guangxi Huangbao Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Chengxi Industrial Park, Yiling Industrial Concentrating Zone

1 fully polished glazed tile line: 15,000m2/d

15,000m2/d

2

2012

Guangxi Wuming Yuanjia Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Chengxi Industrial Park, Yiling Industrial Concentrating Zone

1 rustic tile line: 23,000m2/d; 1 endurable tile line: 22,000m2/d

45,000m2/d

2

2013

Guangxi Xinnuo Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Chengxi Industrial Park, Yiling Industrial Concentrating Zone

1 interior wall tile line: 50,000m2/d

50,000m2/d

6

2014

Guangxi Xinyuan Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Chaoyan Forest Farm, Yiling Industrial Concentrating Zone

2 interior wall tile lines: 45,000m2/d

45,000m2/d

4

2007

Guangxi Wuming Duanzheng Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Dongfeng Farm

1 interior wall tile line: 15,000m2/d

15,000m2/d

Nanning Wuxing Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Ningwu Industrial Park, Ningwu Twon

1 interior wall tile line: 30,000m2/d

30,000m2/d

5

2006

Guangxi Bailong Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Ningwu Industrial Park, Ningwu Twon

1 interior wall tile line: 27,000m2/d

27,000m2/d

2

2007

Guangxi Xinaomei Ceramics Co., Ltd.

Ningwu Industrial Park, Ningwu Twon

1 interior wall tile line: 27,000m2/d

27,000m2/d

1

2007

Guangxi Hengxi Building Materials Co., Ltd.

Xindu Ceramic Industrial Park

2 interior wall tile lines: 70,000m2/d

70,000m2/d

12

2013

1 line planned

Guangxi Jinmen Building Materials Co., Ltd.

Xindu Ceramic Industrial Park

1 interior wall tile line: 60,000m2/d

60,000m2/d

6

2014

1 line under constructio, 1 line planned

Guangxi Tingjin Building Materials Co., Ltd.

Xindu Ceramic Industrial Park

Guigang

Hezhou

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asian ceramics

AC 16-7

3

2011

2014

2

1 line planned

2008

2006

2009

2 lines under constructio, 4 lines planned

www.asianceramics.com

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01/09/2016 15:04:51

Talking Shop

Talking Shop

AIM-ing high SITI B&T talks stock market trends Fabio Tarozzi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at SITI talks to AC about how the company’s AIM listing and how the industry may shape on the back of it.

AC:: What were the driving factors behind the company to go for such a listing?

FT: We obtained financial resources from the stock market in order to pursue a structured and transparent growth plan, which we wanted to share with investors.

AC: Now that there will be shareholder pressure, and the need for constant expansion, do you envisage that acquisition of other technology companies will become a key factor in your future strategy?

FT: The Group’s management intends to pursue the dual goal of organic growth and growth through acquisitions, as and when the opportunity arises. As for production, our four business units already offer international customers a comprehensive range of cutting-edge technology: Siti (complete plants for ceramic tiles), Projecta Engineering and Digital Design (digital decorating machines and graphic design projects), Ancora (finishing plants for ceramic products) and B&T White (complete plants for sanitaryware). A presence in global ceramic markets along with continuous R&D efforts and an increasingly efficient service will be the keys to our growth.

AC: Is this the beginning of a wider long-term consolidation of machinery companies within the ceramics industry, or do you think it is a demonstration of the heights that others could achieve?

FT: The Italian ceramic machinery industry has been engaged in an intensive process of concentration for a number of years now. Given the strong financial structure needed to be able to make R&D investments and pursue expansion in all global markets, only a small number of groups are capable of operating globally with top-level technological offerings. As for listing, however, we are unable to predict whether other companies will follow our example.

AC: How long had you been working on the listing, and what were the biggest challenges about making it happen?

FT: Work began almost a year before the listing itself, which took place at the end of March 2016. It was a very intense and challenging period, but at the same time rewarding. We worked hard internally, but above all focused strongly on promotional efforts and on providing information to potential international investors. We offered the stock market an outstanding example of Italian excellence in the world of capital goods,

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AC 16-7

a sector whose strategic importance is sometimes underestimated.

Fabio-Tarozzi

AC: Given your international links, would you consider listing on overseas exchanges also in the future, or do you see Europe, and Italy in particular, as your main operating base?

FT: We believe that the opportunities offered by the Italian Stock Exchange as a whole are currently adequate for our business needs.

AC: What is the shareholding arrangement in terms of percentage held by the company directors?

FT: When we considered the structure of our offer, we decided that the majority would consist of a capital increase (free float around 25%). This would provide the additional resources needed to continue the Group’s growth projects while firmly retaining control through the holding company owned by the founding families.

AC: Does this make the company more likely to a hostile takeover from a venture capitalist company, and what could you do in that instance?

FT: Control of the company’s stock remains firmly in the hands of the Tarozzi and Barbieri families. The appointment of three independent board members has brought additional skills, resources and vision to the Group’s governance.

AC: Finally, given your experiences in setting up – and succeeding with – this listing, do you consider you have opened a whole new era for ceramics machinery companies, or will you be the only company for some time to carry out such a task?

What advice could you give to others considering such a move?

FT: We are very pleased to have taken this step, which is beginning to have a positive impact on our business. The fact that we are the only representative of our industry on the stock market is an additional source of pride. We don’t know whether other companies will follow in our footsteps. There is clearly a certain amount of diffidence towards the stock market within our industry. However, our experience shows that provided you have a business plan that is credible and attractive to investors, listing can be an important step forward in terms of growth and visibility while at the same time improving company efficiency and organisation.

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ASEANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only dedicated ceramic event that brings the region ceramic manufacturers and international suppliers of raw materials, equipment and machineries, to the top ceramic producing country in ASEAN and one of the largest ceramic consumer in the world - Indonesia.

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Co-organized by :

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Insight

SAUDI ARABIA Unglazed tile imports (sq metres)

Leading unglazed tile import sources (sq metres)

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Unglazed tile exports (sq metres)

Glazed tile imports (sq metres)

www.asianceramics.com

Glazed tile exports (sq metres)

Leading glazed tile import sources (sq metres)

Leading glazed tile export destinations (sq metres)

Sanitaryware exports (no. items)

Sanitaryware imports (no. items)

www.asianceramics.com

Leading sanitaryware import sources (no items)

AC 16-7

asian ceramics

33 65

Hunter and the hunted

Yet another exhibition Dear Diary,

continued to underwhelm. That's not to say China Ceramics 2016 came and went earlier this year and it has faults that aren't being addressed and as it is not without some merit, but as I've discussed before Compounded by the fact the fare is passed the faults aren't addressed its becoming a very stale affair. organisers managed to create the sort of between two organisers on alternate years. This year the the Daily Mail by holding the show over a outrage usually limited to right wing American TV news, or attendees skipping the show completely. I weekend which resulted in some European exhibitors and nd to an exhibition seems an unnecessary understand their point – we all work hard and losing a weeke that for many in South and East Asia the waste of rest & relaxation time. Others though pointed out five and so the show actually might be more weekend might be a Friday or work is a six day week not against foreign companies by charging busy? Also the organisers continuing practice of discriminating means some big companies stay away in three times that which is charged for Chinese companies protest. More than in the past I noted. again this year...would be it a wash out and So it was with some trepidation we exhibited at this show be new suppliers or products to interest us would we make any meaningful new contacts? Would there and how many existing customers would attend?

– I've banged on about this for several I don't want to be too repetitive about China Ceramics failings years though some things are worthy of reiterating. ors don't seem to want to do anything The pricing policy mentioned above is utter idiocy. The exhibit then it will probably continue and China about it so unless the boycott by foreign companies grows show. Especially as the ceramics industry in Ceramics will increasingly be a national not international g and dynamic region instead? Its not like China is under some distress. Why not exhibit in a growin usly the idea seemed to be there were foreign companies get anything extra for paying more. Previo Chinese companies. I've no idea why that 'foreign' halls for foreign companies and Chinese halls for to separate by product lines or industry. segregation was thought a good idea as it makes more sense the international ones (as it should be) but Anyway now there are plenty Chinese companies in among areas to display – pretty much nothing. the Chinese halls seem to have some companies using large space away to make the show look 'big'. I One exhibitor suggested that the organisers must be giving stand which contained probably the worst fake, don't know about that but near to us there was a massive that's what it was)I've ever seen. I don't know massive, poorly constructed glass fiber...train cabin (I think d to be an area for some loud patriotic song what it had to do with ceramics. Later the same stand seeme of the exhibition space is given over to resin singing...we are paying for space next to this? In other parts ics. Further diluting the value of the show. jewelry and frankly – junk that has nothing to do with ceram n at an exhibition is 'Was it busy?' and Which isn't to say it was a waste of time. The eternal questio dismantling the stand the show was very though Sunday was very quiet and Monday only useful for South & South East Asia. busy on Saturday – yes there were more visitors then from sure what value the majority of But otherwise the visitors are mostly Chinese and I'm not out brochures to students and visitors are. One exhibitor says 'I spend most time giving – and based upon my very competitors!'. On the whole compared to previous shows

*The views expressed in this piece reflect those of the author, and not of the magazine or its staff

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www.asianceramics.com

Hunter and the hunted

s t h g u tho

s wo u l d lo o k 0 9 e h t n i w o h s n a e p o r u "a E a nd g n i t s e r e t n i , l a n o i s s e fa r m o re p ro f ra mics is n ow.” e C a in h C n a th l a n o inte rn ati

book I'd say the show was about 66% as busy scientific count of enquiries written into the great enquiry as previously. this exhibition (that I haven't labored But enough of my complaining. What would I like to see from of hearing?) bored rather upon many times before and I'm sure you are getting encourage a boycott to stop it. would I e. overdu 1. Stopping the practice of different charges is way be a ceramics exhibition then to is and show tile l If it would stop it. But if the show isn't to be a nationa have to be 8 halls big. Limit the 't doesn show The the size and pricing of booths needs to be controlled. ..attractively. Sure if an ctively. constru and tly size of stands so the real estate available is used efficien If not – show us a video. g. runnin it see can we if – exhibitor needs to set up a machine to display – fine better. is t Or some sort of active demonstration of why your produc in the show. Given we all have to fill out Stop the people selling personal massagers from getting y sectors how do people selling tacky industr multiple forms explaining our companies products and improved but then again we bribed the has y jewelry manage to book stand space? At least the securit so we got special attention. drinks soft & security guard sitting next to our stand with candies other industries when it comes to the g dwarfin tile 2. With digital printing dominant in decoration and the show by industry and then by rize catego to numbers of booths and space taken it would be better for truly innovative or new products ed allocat be materials or machinery. It would be nice if an area could printing is so 2012 now I'm waiting for the but I expect that would be difficult to achieve. Though digital next great innovation in ceramics. in B2B & B2C on the internet there isn't much 3. The other problem is that whilst we've seen the grown 1980s. In fact a European show in the 90s the since difference in how exhibitions are organized and run than China Ceramics is now. So it needs tional would look far more professional, interesting and interna

to offer more. an opportunity for a company to simply 4. One thing that might work is an associated seminar; not debate & discussion about industry trends, include talk about its latest widgets but something that could or developing markets as well as explanations fashion, impact of new legislation. Information about new very good at this. Exhibitions need to get were of new products and practices. The SGCD in the USA – we can do that on the internet. I kaolin find to away from people walking up and down aisles trying food and beverage exhibition but to a at see would understand that we can't expect the interaction one fact time with suppliers and buyers we need get people to stay longer, to see more and to have more can meet and converse. At the moment people to see something to grab our attention, somewhere ees of dubious value. Rather that going attend ous exhibitions are a mix of the old boys club and numer exhibition last year one of the ASEAN the At . for quantity the exhibition circuit needs to look at quality Council which explained pment Develo Trade and most interesting talks was by the British Consulate s so that visitors and activitie of type these of more business and politics in Thailand. Exhibitions need d. investe they've dollars the for exhibitors can learn more and take something away Until next time Your humble servant William Hunter

*The views expressed in this piece reflect those of the author, and not of the magazine or its staff

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The Largest and Major Ceramics Industry Exhibition in the World with 100,000sqm Exhibiting Space !

Date: June 1st - 4th, 2017 Venue: Canton Fair Complex, Guangzhou

Hosted by China Ceramic Industrial Association Organized by Unifair Exhibition Service Co., Ltd.

+86 - 20 - 8327 6369 / 8327 6389 overseas@ceramicschina.com.cn

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Advertiser feature

Sacmi opens a new robotic era The Group’s Whiteware Division is participating in Tecnargilla 2016 with a full range of robotised solutions for the production, glazing and finishing of sanitaryware. On the horizon a real revolution in the way of conceiving the production process, contributing to the improvement of the labour force and to product quality A technological revolution that makes people, working conditions, the quality of the finished product and the optimisation of the production processes once more key to enhancing the competitiveness of the industry’s leading players. Leading the way is the Whiteware Division of Sacmi Imola, participating in the next edition of the international fair Tecnargilla (Rimini, 26-30 September) with new robotic solutions for the manufacturing, glazing and finishing of ceramic sanitaryware, which visitors will have the opportunity to discover at stand B1.

Backed by a customer list that is outstanding - in terms of quantity and quality - compared to its main competitors, Sacmi’s Sanitaryware Division has, over the course of its history stretching back more than 30 years, delivered to the market more than 6,000 moulds, 1,700 modelling developments, and more than 550 casting machines.

One of these - a high-pressure casting cell consisting of 4 AVMs and a robot dedicated to automatic mould-onmould gluing of the WC bowl with rim and tank - will be on display at the fair, two years after its preview presentation and with the additional feather in its cap of the endorsement obtained in the meantime from the market.

Offering major benefits in terms of automation and quality, is the single casting line and the total automation performed by robots that guarantee the perfect repeatability of the process.

Indeed, the solution has been checked and successfully tested with a primary company in the sector, with results that visitors to the fair can observe through a special screening of a video of the casting cell at work.

The result is a true revolution in the industry that Sacmi Imola’s Whiteware Division initiated and managed starting from solutions which appeared to concern details. They will see the new needleless glazing spray gun that has achieved extraordinary success in the market (fully 110 systems delivered recently) thanks to the elimination of the need for maintenance (there are no parts that are subject to wear) and, as a direct consequence, the increasing repeatability of the process. Much more compact than traditional solutions, the new glazing gun allows even the most inaccessible areas of the product being glazed to be reached, with consistent performance over time and optimisation of the quantity of glaze delivered (reduction of overspray). The result ; optimised costs and improved quality of the finished product.

Not just a production company but – also and especially – a comprehensive service provider for the industry, Sacmi Imola’s

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Whiteware Division has also invested significant resources in recent years into the development of robotic solutions designed and marketed in collaboration with the Gaiotto Automation Group.

This led to the new “smart” release of the software for offline programming of glazing robots, a solution that in practice enables programming of all the glazing phases to be carried out “back at the office”, then delivering it to the robot that can then carry out all the phases in the most efficient way. Drastic reduction of overspray, thanks to the optimized algorithms for simulating spraying trajectories and parameters, and a reduction of line downtime, with the robot being programmable in advance, are just some of the advantages of the solution that paves the way to the big news of 2016, “collaborative robotics”.

The first step of a new challenge that will completely revolutionize the way of understanding manufacturing and - more specifically - factory work, the collaborative robot differs from traditional robotic solutions in its ability to work side by side with humans, without the need for separate work zones (or halting of production whenever an operative has to intervene on the robot). Equipped with the most advanced safety systems, the robot offered by Sacmi for sanitaryware applications is made by Fanuc, a multinational company operating in the sector, and is specially designed to assist the operator in piece finishing operations. Because of this ability to work with humans at close quarters, the robot can carry out all the product handling operations dynamically, eliminating at source any repetitive, tedious and unnatural activities and thus bringing the sector into line with the most recent European directives on ergonomics in the workplace.

This all adds up to technology that benefits people and, hence, the environment. It is with regard to this last point that the innovations proposed by Sacmi for firing sanitaryware products come into their own, from the tunnel kilns of the TWS range equipped with EMS (energy management system) to the HWS shuttle kilns with their high efficiency Reko self-recuperating burners. Manufactured by Riedhammer, a market leading Sacmi Group company, these machines stand out for their exceptionally high performance (optimisation of the firing curve, guaranteeing the quality of the fired product) while achieving a reduction in gas consumption and emissions of CO2.

All this and much more can be seen at Tecnargilla…see you there!

AC 16-7

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