The sector of pottery Italian lives a paradox: companies have assignments until next year, but they struggle to satisfy her. In short, it’s an upside down world where businesses are at risk of being shut down because they are unable to do so to produce. Between energy price increasesexplosion of transportation costs and deliveries that worked intermittently, the industry has already been under pressure in recent months. Now, with the war, these problems were compounded by the blockade Shipments from Ukrainewhere does she come from 25% clay used by ceramic companies. Until a few months ago, 35,000ton ships left the port of Mariupol and after crossing the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, landed at Ravenna. From the ports of call, trucks with clays pulled out Donbass supplies the ceramic companies of Sassuolo, Faenza, Imola and Scandiano, the largest in Italy. Along with mechanicsIn fact, the sector is the pride of the area.
According to preliminary data for 2021, the Emilia district will have a national production of 6.1 billion euros It’s worth 5 billion and exports 85% of its sales. “There inquiry it is very high, but our companies are experiencing delivery difficulties “explains the President of Confindustria Ceramica, Giovanni Savorani. Entrepreneurs are particularly worried about the margins, which are very risky due to the rise in energy prices. Some of them prefer losing to losing lose market share. “We decided to protect them customers these are our main assets,” Savorani continues, without paying too much attention to the income statement. After all, the situation is so serious that we believe we should do this to protect our factories, ours workforce and for the 50 years it took us to conquer the markets of 160 countries around the world”. Also because the‘induced counts 20,000 employees and any closures would have a significant impact on the social fabric.
Then, to aggravate an already critical situation on the energy front, came the war, which caused the blocking of Italian imports from Ukraine. “That kaolina key required for crafting very white and large format tiles“, emphasizes Ermes Ferrari, Head of the research department Cna from Modena. For now, however, the industry has held up fairly well, seeking new suppliers and increasing shipments from old suppliers. “We’re trying to substitute the clays that came from the Donbass and covered 2530% of our compositions with them German and French“, emphasizes Savorani, who is also the patron of gigaceran important ceramic company from Faenza.
In addition, to meet the needs, the extractions from some quarries in Sardinia. However, in addition to the higher cost of these clays, there is a problem quality: it is indeed Crete less valuable than the Ukrainian one. “These are darker raw materials,” explains the manager, “those from the Donbass, on the other hand, are very white and very plastic. To replace them, we turn toIndiato the Brazil and al Venezuela. Ships also arrive in Ravenna Turkey“. With likely increase in transport costs due to the greater distance. “We try not to bother with it,” continues Savorani, “the goal is to keep the bar straight to serve customers: it would be a disaster den to leave the market now.”
Luckily, the companies in the industry had stocks, on average for a couple of months, and this allowed them to look around. In fact, as soon as the conflict broke out, many companies began to diversify their supplies, while some entrepreneurs had already reduced their purchases of Ukrainian clay 2014when Russia annexed Crimea and in the Donbass secured separatism prorussian. “Even though the war had a huge impact, I’m pretty confident that the problem can be solved,” continues Savorani, “so far we haven’t had to shut down production due to a lack of sound”.
The situation is different with gas. A 30 companies (of over 200) They had to shut down their plants for a few days last month as methane skyrocketed 3 euros per cubic metre, compared to twenty cents a year earlier. Then the price dropped to EUR 1.20 but swings are so abrupt harmful for an energyintensive sector like ceramics. “Energy is a primary driver of our production and price increases are hitting those who make lowend products the hardest,” he explains Michele Iacarusoowner of Lak Sistemi, Company dealing with machines for ceramics. “To produce one square meter of tiles, three cubic meters of gas are needed,” the entrepreneur continues, “at the beginning of 2021 with methane for €0.20, the cost was sixty cents: today instead it also arrived 3 or 4 euros“.
In addition, few companies in the industry have protected themselves longterm contracts and at fixed prices. “Some have already come terminations onesided: some utilities have preferred to pay penalties to get out of contracts,” Savorani points out. “Our invoice has increased from 6070 thousand euros per month to 240 thousand and in March it will be even higher because we have produced more”, adds the entrepreneur and President of Confindustria Ceramica. According to Ferrari, head of economic policy at the Cna of Modena, the main problem is uncertainty: “It is not possible to plan: companies work with very low margins and with Price lists, which are valid for a maximum of one week“. “We are in a paradox,” concludes the economist, “there are companies with orders until the summer of 2023, but they cannot plan and risk doing so To block investments”.
But the European system for trading in emissions quotas also caused gas prices for the ceramics industry to rise etc (European trading system) which sets a cap amount of Co2 Total amount that can be issued in the EU and required from those who do acquire related rights in a virtual market. “The Ets system gave us a lot of trouble growing. The emission bar has been lowered over the years and since we didn’t have technologies to reduce it, we had to buy more and more quotas,” explains the President of Confindustria Ceramica, Savorani. In addition, numerous companies are active in the Ets market trade buy the allowances to resell and help inflate their prices. The quotas “are a heavy burden on our costs,” emphasizes Savorani, “when the law came into force in 2005, one tonne of CO2 was assessed 4 euros. Now we have arrived 92 eurosBut not only that. Within the European Union, the most ecologically backward countries enjoy softer rules. “Our competitors are in there Poland to which the quotas are not applied are rewarded for stopping use Money to produce electricity and switch to gas”. A difference in treatment that entrepreneurs believe in incomprehensible for a fund that they explain has invested in the past five years 2.2 billion euros and has reduced the environmental impact of its production.
On the other hand, despite a thousand difficulties, Italian ceramics are very competitive on international markets. Despite increased transport costs the freight rates of Container went from 1800 to 9 thousand euros in 2021 the exports to the United States was 17% higher than in 2019. This while the sector is now holding steady 31% of total US tile imports. Last year sales abroad generated 5.5 billion euros with a total turnover of 6.1.