Growing tile business in Spain

From 3 to 7 February 2020 the Cevisama will open its doors again in Valencia, Spain. The annual international trade fair for ceramic tiles expects over 800 exhibitors and 90,000 trade visitors from over 140 countries. Experts from a. hartrodt Spain are also at the Cevisama. "Tiles account for 30 percent of our business in Spain," says Lorena Figaro, Managing Director Spain at a. hartrodt in Barcelona. According to the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association, Ascer, Spain is the EU leader in tile exports. From January to September 2019, industry sales rose by 2.4 per cent to around 2.2 billion euros compared to the same period last year.

Sales office in tile cluster

Whether natural stone trend or mosaics - in the province of Castellón in the Autonomous Region of Valencia everything revolves around tiles. According to the association, 80 percent of the companies in the sector are based here. And on the western edge of this cluster, in Onda, a. hartrodt has a sales office. "In recent years, we have developed here new projects to Africa and South America," reports Juan Gómez, Sales Executive at a. hartrodt in Onda.

Most exports to Australia

"The main export countries for a. hartrodt Spain for ceramic tiles are Australia and Chile", emphasizes Figaro. The Spanish national company of a. hartrodt, based in Barcelona and now with 16 employees, was founded in 1980 to organise ceramic tile transports to Australia. Most imports to Europe now come from China. "This is sometimes cheaper than having them manufactured in Spain or Italy," says Figaro. The Genoese also knows the tile industry from her home country, where she was most recently branch manager in Milan at a. hartrodt. Since it is a heavy but inexpensive product, sea freight is the preferred means of transport: "The import containers are usually shipped to Valencia from southern Chinese ports such as Foshan or Shenzhen," reports Figaro.

The team of a. hartrodt Spain makes appointments at the Cevisama. In addition to Figaro and Gómez, also Glauc Fornés, General Manager of a. hartrodt Spain, will be available for meetings at the fair.

a. hartrodt will be present at many other trade fairs worldwide in 2020. You can find an overview here.