In 2023, the U.S. shipments of ceramic tile amounted to some 898.4 million square feet.Â
The ceramic manufacturing process
Ceramics are manufactured through the heating and cooling process of an inorganic, nonmetallic solid. This material originated over 37,000 years ago, often used as pottery or for decorative objects. Certain industrial waste materials such as sludge from crushing gneiss or from cutting and polishing varvite can be used in the manufacturing of ceramic tiles, instead of raw materials. Using waste to fabricate new materials can provide a new economic opportunity for the ceramic industry.
U.S. ceramic tile shipments
The volume of ceramic tile shipments in the United States has increased over the last years from 571 million square feet in 2009 to a high of nearly 991 million square feet in 2017. Shipments have decreased somewhat in the past few years since then, but remain stable. An increase in demand for ceramic tiles is often tightly linked to increases in construction activities and construction of new homes. Indeed, similar to the slight fluctuations in ceramic tile shipments, U.S. consumption of ceramic tiles has decreased slightly over the past few years but remained stable.
U.S. imports of ceramic tiles
The United States imports a large majority of its ceramic tiles from Italy and Spain, and in 2022, the total value of tiles imported to the U.S. reached 888.6 million U.S. dollars and 789 million U.S. dollars, respectively from those two countries. The total value of U.S. ceramic tile imports that year was more than 2.94 billion U.S. dollars. By quantity, the U.S. also imported the most ceramic tiles from Spain and Italy, at 432 million square feet and 377 million square feet, respectively.