Australian housing market recovery may be good for ceramic tile demand

Release Time：December，06，2013  VIEW:4541

Housing construction permits in October increased by 23.1% year-on-year
Taocheng.com According to the October housing construction permit data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on November 29 and December 2, the total number of housing construction permits in the country in October after seasonal adjustments was 16,491, a decrease of 1.8% from the previous month and an expected increase of 1.9%. ; A year-on-year increase of 23.1% and an expected increase of 19.1%.
Among them, the seasonally adjusted private single-family houses fell by 0.3% month-on-month and are expected to increase by 0.2%. In September, the data increased by 1.3% month-on-month; private housing (excluding single-family houses) fell by 2.7% month-on-month, and was expected to increase by 4.5%. The month-on-month data increased by 37.4%. In addition, after the seasonal adjustment, the total output value of construction permits in Australia in October increased by 9.3% month-on-month, increasing for 4 consecutive months, and is expected to increase by 2.3%. Among them, the output value of residential construction increased by 2.3% month-on-month, for 5 consecutive months, and is expected to increase by 2.9%; the output value of non-residential buildings increased by 21.6% month-on-month, and is expected to increase by 1.4%. In September, the data fell by 8.9% month-on-month.

Import volume of unglazed tiles in each state of Australia in 2009-2012
  The ACIF forecasts pointed out that compared with the previous two years, the country’s loan interest rate has been relatively low this year, population growth has driven demand, and residents’ income has also grown, which has promoted the recovery of the housing market. According to a report updated in November, the recovery of the Australian residential market started in New South Wales and will pick up further next year until the middle of the year.

Import volume of glazed tiles in each state of Australia, 2009-2012
  Echoing the desertedness of the construction market in the past two years is the decline in demand for ceramic tiles. In 2011 and 2012, the import volume of ceramic tiles in Australia continued to decline. According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012 imported ceramic tiles totaled 32,429,304 square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 3.7%, and the rate of decline slowed by half. Among them, glazed tiles (customs code 6908) 27,238,106 square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 1.5%; unglazed tiles (customs code 6907) 5,191,198 square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 13.9%, of which 65% of the supply comes from China. It can be seen that glazed tiles are the main ceramic tile category imported by Australia, and the import volume accounts for about 84% of the total import volume.
In 2012, Australia's top ten source countries for imported ceramic tiles were China (61.5%), Malaysia (11%), Italy (8.0%), Thailand (5.4%), Spain (3.2%), Indonesia (2.5%), and Vietnam. (2.4%), Sri Lanka (1.6%), the UAE (0.8%) and Turkey (0.7%). Among them, China’s ceramic tiles accounted for 61.5% of its total imports, up 3% year-on-year. Of course, imported ceramic tiles are only part of the Australian ceramic tile consumer market. Australia’s own ceramic tile production capacity exceeds 6 million square meters, so the total ceramic tile consumption is about 38 million square meters.
According to the analysis based on the data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, from the perspective of customs valuation, the average unit price of Chinese ceramic tile products exported to Australia is about 6.837 Australian dollars per square meter, Italian ceramic tile products are about 18.623 Australian dollars per square meter, and Spanish ceramic tile products are about 13.437 Australian dollars per square meter. Square meters.
According to Lin Junli, President of Romax Tiles Australia Pty Ltd, a local ceramic company, the Australian market prefers simple-style ceramic tiles with a specification of 600x600 (mm). Consumers pay more attention to product quality and color design. Regarding the prospects of the market, Lin Junli said that Australia is a country with a large area and sparsely populated areas. Although it has a high per capita brick usage rate, it only consumes 33,000,000-35,000,000 square meters a year. In addition, the entry barrier for ceramics sales in Australia is low, so competition is fierce. "China's imported bricks now account for about 60% of total imports. However, due to the vicious horizontal competition between domestic exporters and local Australian importers, good and bad are uneven. Therefore, to succeed in Australia, product design must meet local needs, quality and market order. It should be the first thing to note. China is now Australia’s largest trading partner, and Australians themselves are very friendly to China. Therefore, it is not difficult for Chinese manufacturers to succeed in Australia, as long as they abide by market rules and focus on Quality and customer service, I believe that the proportion of Chinese bricks in Australia will continue to grow."
  It is reported that ROMAX has been rooted in the Australian market for more than ten years and imports about 185,000 square meters of Chinese ceramic tiles every month. The company expects to increase its business volume in Australia by 10% in 2014, and plans to invest in Australia and Asia in the next few years.