German brick and tile industry still seeing stable sales

Despite a double-digit increase in the number of building permits issued over the past few years, the members of the Federal German Association of the Brick and Tile Industry Regd (Bundesverband der Deutschen Ziegelindustrie e.V.) were unable to significantly expand their production output or output value last year. While the producers of clay bricks had reason to be pleased about a gain of nearly 7%, the corresponding figures for roof tile producers remained stagnant.

For a number of years now, the sector‘s total production output has remained fairly constant. Nor has there been any considerable change in the overall number of producers and employees in the German brick and tile industry.

One reason for all this is the fact that the increased number of building permits has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in building completions. The number of housing units completed in 2015 did not exceed the 2014 figure, and the number of completions in 2016 failed to expand as much as anticipated. Not counting the one-off effect of the many new dormitories for immigrants, the overall gain stopped just short of 7 %.

Thus, the association still sees major demand for new housing or, to quote Martin Roth, president of the Federal German Association of the Brick and Tile Industry: “Even though the fact that nearly 280 000 residential units were completed last year may sound impressive, that is still far below the required number of 350 000 to 400 000 units.“

Clay bricks coming on strong, roof tiles standing still

As calculated by the German Federal Statistical Office, the quantity of roof tiles produced in 2016 came to 617.1 mill. (2015: 624.9 mill.), for a drop of 1.3 %. The output value of roof tiles from German plants remained practically unchanged: products worth € 672.2 mill. last year compare to € 672.4 mill. in 2015.

According to the Statistical Office‘s calculations, the year 2016 saw a gain in clay brick production compared to 2015. Last year, total clay brick output came to 7.2 mill. m³ (2015: 6.8 mill. m³). The output value also increased, from €  561.5 mill. in 2015 to € 599 mill in 2016 (up 6.8 %). Those figures include the production of backing bricks (€ 397.8 mill.), facing bricks (€ 143.9 mill.) and pavers (€ 58.5 mill.).

The Federal German Association of the Brick and Tile Industry Regd (Bundesverband der Deutschen Ziegelindustrie e.V.) represents a total of 90 companies with some 110 production facilities and a good 8 200 employees. The total turnover of all members together comes to roughly € 1.2 bill. per annum, and the export quota to points in Europe is currently running at roughly 15%.

Source Ziegelindustrie International