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Resource efficiency versus market trends in the ceramic tile industry: Effect
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Article in Resources Conservation and Recycling · November 2020

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105271

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Garcia-Ten J., Rambaldi E., Zanelli C., Cabedo Vicent M.,

Dondi M., Raw material flows in the European ceramic tile
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1
 Resource Efficiency versus Market Trends in the Ceramic Tile
Industry: Effect on the Supply Chain in Italy and Spain

Michele Dondi1, Javier García-Ten2, Elisa Rambaldi3, Chiara Zanelli1, Mónica Vicent-Cabedo2
1
CNR-ISTEC, Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali Ceramici, via Granarolo 64, 48018 Faenza, Italy.
2
Instituto de Tecnología Cerámica (ITC), Asociación de Investigación de las Industrias Cerámicas (AICE),
Universitat Jaume I (UJI), Avda Vicente Sos Baynat s/n, 12006 Castelló, Spain.
3
Centro Ceramico, via Martelli 26, 40138 Bologna, Italy.

ABSTRACT
Recent trends in the raw materials market unveil a growing dependence of the European ceramic
tile industry on imports from sources outside the European Union. This tendency reflects significant
changes in the typologies of ceramic products, which in turn result in a modified batch design and
different raw materials. Such an evolution implies an increasing stress on the supply chain, which
role is strategic in terms of resource efficiency and competitiveness of the ceramic industry. Despite
the importance of a secure and affordable supply, a global knowledge of raw materials flows over
the last years is still lacking. In this paper, the supply chain was examined by quantifying the apparent
consumption of raw materials in the ceramic tile industry in Italy and Spain for the last 10 years.
Official data from ceramic tile production, national and European statistics for raw materials imports
and exports and information from local suppliers have been used to quantify current trends, to define
the supply chain in both countries and detect possible criticalities. While the supply chain in Italy kept
stable during the period analysed, the raw material flows in the Spanish industry changed noticeably
in the last years due to the increase in white-firing bodies production, that implies a growing
dependence on raw materials imports. Currently, beyond the specific features of each country, the
resulting supply patterns are turning similar over time, with an increasing dependence on the
Ukrainian clay and Turkish feldspar in both countries. In the last years, efforts to diversify the raw
materials sources, including the use of waste as secondary raw material, have been spent, but their
impact on the supply chain is still very small. This trend must continue, particularly in the use of
secondary raw materials, search for new deposits, new purification processes and improvement of
transport logistics to provide the European ceramic industries with high quality and competitive raw
materials. Finally, due the choice of raw materials (and consequently the supply chain) is driven in a
complex way by various factors, they are identified and discussed for the different product typologies.

Key words: ceramic tiles; circular economy; raw materials; resource efficiency; supply chain.

2
1. Introduction
A wide array of industrial minerals is consumed by the European ceramic tile industry in order to
formulate bodies, glazes, engobes and pigments. These raw materials are recovered either from
domestic sources or imported from other European countries or even outside the European Union.
In this framework, the supply chain takes on a strategic role, because the efficiency in the access to
mineral resources turned to be a competitive factor among tile manufacturers. In addition, the
dependence on few sources can represent a critical aspect of supply for some raw materials
(Fahimnia et al., 2015).
Ceramic raw materials marketed on the large scale are mainly clays and fluxes, for which there are
many different types and alternatives. Clay materials can be distinguished in red-firing clay, white-
firing clay (ball clay), kaolin, etc. (Sánchez et al., 2006; Dondi et al., 2014). Fluxes encompass
various kinds of feldspars, including alkaline feldspars and nepheline syenite (Sánchez et al., 2006;
Dondi, 2018; Dondi et al., 2019). Possible substitutes are secondary raw materials and end-of-life
products (Rambaldi et al., 2007; García-Ten et al., 2016; Andreola et al., 2016). In addition, many
other commodities are used by the ceramic industry (talc, quartz, carbonates, wollastonite, lithium
minerals, and so on) including some Critical Raw Materials, according to the European classification
(cobalt, borates).
In recent years, concern for resource efficiency has grown considerably, as evidenced by both the
high recycling rate of production residues (Resca et al., 2015; García-Ten et al., 2016) and the
increased use of secondary raw materials (Rambaldi et al., 2018a and 2018b; Andreola et al., 2020).
Such an evolution towards a circular economy, however, has to face technological constraints
stemming from the industrial innovation and changes in the market demand for ceramic tiles. Both
factors are currently converging, mainly towards increasingly large porcelain stoneware products, up
to slabs of more than 5 square meters (Ros-Dosdá et al., 2018; Ligabue et al., 2020; Mugoni et al.,
2020). This situation represents a struggle between two orientations: on the one hand, the impulse
to increase efficiency in the use of primary and secondary resources; on the other hand, the need to
follow the trends of the international ceramic tile market. This conflict is reflected on the supply chain
through the industrial choices about the sources of raw materials.
Nevertheless, despite its relevance for the European ceramic tile industry, no overall picture is
available for the raw materials supply chain. The main difficulties lie in the complex structure of the
ceramic industry in Europe and in the access to information, which is substantially held by
companies. To overcome these obstacles, attention will be focused on the major European
manufacturers, for whom reliable statistics are available, regarding both the production of ceramic
tiles and the use of raw and secondary materials. Hence, the two major tile districts in Europe will
be compared: Castelló de la Plana, Comunitat Valenciana, Spain versus Sassuolo-Scandiano,
Emilia-Romagna, Italy (Vignocchi, 2017; Hervas-Oliver and Davide, 2018). These districts (hereafter
referred to as Castelló and Sassuolo, respectively) together account for most of the demand on the
European market of ceramic raw materials, accounting in 2018 for 69 % of the EU tile production

3
(Baraldi, 2019). As a matter of fact, the Spanish and Italian ceramic tile districts represent about 4%
and 3%, respectively, of the total world tile manufacturing (China included) and about 14% and 12%,
respectively, of the global export of ceramic tiles, expressed in square meters (Baraldi, 2019).
The goal is to appraise the effects on the ceramic tile supply chain of the contrasting stress from
market trends and need to improve the resource efficiency. A detailed analysis is focused on the
Castelló and Sassuolo districts, trying to describe current trends in the production of ceramic tiles
and evaluate their repercussion on the demand of industrial minerals. The expected outcome
includes quantitative flows of raw materials and identification of possible criticalities in the supply
chain.

2. Methodology
The rationale of this work can be illustrated through a series of questions and answers, as pictured
in Fig. 1, which represent consequential steps to get at the discussion of resource efficiency versus
market trends. The starting point is to know which typologies of tiles have been produced in the last
decade and, through the knowledge of batch design in the Castelló and Sassuolo districts, to find
out how the demand for raw materials has been evolving. The next step has been to understand
where the raw materials come from and to define, knowing the flows of commodities on the
international market, what the dependence on imports is for the two districts. Therefore, the logistics
have been broadly reconstructed, tracing back to how the raw materials arrive at the ceramic
factories and comparing the supply chain in the Castelló and Sassuolo districts. This information
made it possible to assess the degree of concentration of raw material suppliers and therefore to
indicate weaknesses and potential criticalities in the supply chain. Finally, an attempt was made to
understand what obstacles stand in the way of increasing resource efficiency, by analyzing the main
drivers (regarding raw materials, technological innovation and market trends) that affect industrial
decisions about the supply chain. Some recommendations have emerged for the future directions of
research and development that the ceramic tile sector in Europe will have to undertake with regard
to the supply of raw materials.
The lack of a single data source for the calculation of the ceramic tile production in both countries,
divided by typologies, the consumption of domestic and imported raw materials, and of the origin of
each raw material, has entailed the use of several data sources. This made it difficult to obtain
representative and comparable data on the raw material consumption in each ceramic district.

4
 Fig. 1. Methodological approach followed in this work.

In this paper, data on raw materials consumption concern exclusively the ceramic tile bodies, so that
raw materials used to produce frits, engobes, glazes, calcined pigments and inkjet inks are excluded.
According to the groups defined by ISO 13006 and EN 14411 standards based on water absorption
(WA) and shaping technique (B=pressing), the following ceramic tile typologies were considered:
 Porcelain stoneware, group BIa (WA  0.5%).
 White-firing floor tiles, group BIb (0.5% < WA < 3%).
 White-firing wall tiles, group BIII (WA > 10%).
 Red-firing floor tiles, group BII (3% < WA < 10%) and wall tiles, group BIII (WA > 10%).
For the sake of simplicity, red-firing floor and wall tiles were combined in a single group as the raw
materials used are mainly local red-firing clays. A data sheet about the main technical characteristics
of the various tile types is reported as supplementary material (Table S1).
The ceramic tile production in Spain, expressed in squared meters, were obtained from the Spanish
association of floor and wall ceramic tile manufacturers (ASCER, 2020) and for breaking the
production into the different ceramic tiles typologies, the information collected in the Annual
Competitive Position Report (IPAC) elaborated by the Market Observatory of ITC was used. For the
Italian tile production, data were taken from the statistical survey issued yearly by Confindustria
Ceramica (ISN, 2006-2019).
In order to convert data of ceramic tile production into tons of raw materials, average values of tile
thickness and bulk density were assumed for each product typology to get the tile weight per surface
unit (kg/m2) as summarized in Table S2 (supplementary material). In addition, also the loss on
ignition and wastage during manufacturing were estimated. Several data sources were consulted to
calculate the apparent consumption of the main types of raw materials. For the imported raw
materials (ball clays and feldspars) national statistics on raw materials imports and exports were
consulted for Spain (ESTACOM, 2020) and for Italy and further European countries (EUROSTAT,

5
2020). It must be considered that not all the imported raw materials were used to produce ceramic
tile bodies, but other products as well, like refractories, engobes or sanitaryware. The amount of raw
materials utilized in ceramic tile manufacturing, however, is larger than in the other sectors by one
order of magnitude. In addition, some companies are importing and simultaneously exporting raw
materials to third countries (hence it was considered in the calculations).
Data on domestic raw materials consumption, such as red-firing clay, ball clay, kaolin, quartz and
limestone, were obtained as follows. Due to the fact that 100% of red-firing tile batches are made up
exclusively of local red-firing clays, production data in square meters were converted in tons using
the information provided in Table S2. The consumption of local ball clay, quartz and limestone were
calculated contrasting data of raw materials consumption – calculated from tile production by
typologies – and the information included in Table S2, as well as data from the main local suppliers
and from average batches.
Indicators were used to estimate the degree of market concentration, the apparent consumption of
raw materials, and the dependence on imported raw materials. The amount of competition along the
supply chain was estimated through a country-based Herfindahl–Hirschman Index, HHI (Krivka,
2016; Brezina et al., 2016):

where si is the share of country in the supply chain, and N is the number of countries. Thus, HHI
ranges from 1/N to one, with values below 0.15 indicating an unconcentrated supply chain, HHI
between 0.15 and 0.25 indicates a moderate concentration, while HHI > 0.25 points out to a high
concentration. The apparent consumption of raw materials (Briviano et al., 1999; Deetman et al.,
2018) was calculated as a simplified index (domestic production + imports – exports) for specific
categories: red clay, ball clay, feldspathic materials. The dependence on imports was expressed as
Import Reliance (IR) that is the percentage of imported raw materials on the apparent consumption
(Brainard et al., 2018).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Ceramic tile production
The ceramic tile production in the period 2006-2019 is shown in Fig. 2 for the Italian and Spanish
districts. The output of different tile typologies is expressed in square meters manufactured. Also,
the global market trend is illustrated. In Italy, the progressive conversion of the domestic production
into porcelain stoneware, started over 30 years ago, continued at a slow pace (Fig. 2A). In 2019,
porcelain stoneware attained nearly 88% of the national tile output. Other whiteware types – not
included in the BIa group (i.e., stoneware, monoporosa, birapida, klinker) – are gradually diminishing
and represented approximately 3% of the total. A similar trend characterized all products based on
red bodies, mainly pertaining to groups BII (stoneware), BIII (monoporosa and birapida), and AII
(rustic cotto) that sum up to about 8%.

6
Fig. 2. Ceramic tile production (million square meters) for different tile typologies in Italy (A) and Spain (B) in
the period 2006-2019.

In Spain, after the recession of the years 2006-2009, there was a progressive increase in the
production of ceramic tiles until 2017, followed by a stabilisation and slightly decline in 2018 and
2019 (Fig. 2B). During this period changes in tile production typology took place. The ratio white-
firing/red-firing bodies declined from 42/58 to 35/65 through the recession period (2006-2009). On
the contrary, from 2009 on, this ratio increased progressively till 67/33 in 2019, reversing the value
of the ratio what means a clear trend towards the production of white-firing tiles in Spain. The
production of red-firing extruded products (not included in the figure) decreased markedly during this
period moving from 7% to 1%, while white-firing floor-tiles were no longer produced.

3.2. Use of raw materials

The demand of raw materials from the Italian and Spanish ceramic tile districts from 2006 to 2019 is
compared in Fig. 3, separated for the various ceramic tile typologies. The global consumption of raw
materials followed a trend similar to that of tile production, although somewhat more pronounced in
favour of white-firing typologies, due to the higher raw materials amount per square metre, in
particular for porcelain stoneware bodies.

Fig. 3. Ceramic raw materials consumption (million tons) for different tile typologies in Italy (A) and Spain (B)
in the period 2006-2019.

7
These trends for ceramic tiles reflect on individual raw materials, which include red-firing clay, ball
clay, kaolin, feldspar, and feldspathic sand, among others (Sánchez et al., 2006; Dondi et al., 2014;
Dondi 2018). The batch design varies according to the typology of tiles and the ceramic district, as
exemplified in Table 1.
The apparent consumption of clays and feldspars in the last decade is illustrated in Fig. 4. In Italy,
the demand kept rather steady from 2010 to 2015 for both ball clay (around 3 Mt) and feldspathic
materials (about 4 Mt). In the 2015-2017 period, the apparent consumption of feldspars and ball
clays grew up to 4.8 Mt and 3.8 Mt, respectively, before a slight decrease in the latest years. These
figures represent to a large extent the consumption of raw materials for porcelain stoneware tiles,
which corresponds to over 90% of the total. The use of red clays, extracted from local quarries, is
being abandoned through an extremely gradual phenomenon, as an abrupt shift to white-firing floor
tiles occurred in the Sassuolo district already across the 1980s and 1990s (Dondi, 1999).

Table 1. Average batch design of ceramic tile bodies.

Feldspathic
Ceramic tile type Ball clays Red clays Kaolin Feldspars Carbonates
sands

Porcelain stoneware 30-40  0-10 40-55 0-15 

 
White-firing floor tiles 30-50 0-15 30-45 10-20


White-firing wall tiles 30-70 0-30 0-20 10-40 5-15

Red-firing wall tiles  60-100   0-40 0-15

Red-firing floor tiles  80-100  0-15 0-20 

In Spain, the apparent consumption of red-firing clays remained stable at around 5 Mt until 2016,
declining from that year onwards because of the conversion of the production towards white-firing
tiles, being porcelain stoneware tile the product that experienced the higher increase. On the contrary
the consumption of ball clay, both domestic and imported, showed a progressive growth until 2018
due to the increase in the production of white-firing tiles. Adjustments in the imported ball clay stocks
located in the spray-drying facilities and in the port of Castelló and the increase of local ball clay in
the compositions may explain the slowdown in 2018 and the reduction of 2019, given that the
production of white-firing tiles continued growing at the same rate. The consumption of feldspar
remained stable until 2013 (1 Mt) and then a progressively increased was observed in parallel with
the growth of in the porcelain stoneware tile production, reaching 2.7 Mt in 2018. The stabilization in
consumption in 2019 could be due to the stock regulations in the Castelló district.

8
Fig. 4. Apparent consumption of ceramic clays (A) and feldspars (B) by the ceramic industry in Italy and Spain.

3.3. Raw materials supply chain

The demand of raw materials for ceramic tiles has been satisfied in Spain and Italy with a different
recourse to domestic and imported raw materials. Fig. 5A shows the average Import Reliance (IR)
values in the Italian and Spanish districts, while Fig. 5B depicts the IR values in both countries divided
in plastic and non-plastic raw materials, due to their different role in the batch. Plastic raw materials
mainly define the unfired properties and final whiteness, while non-plastic ones (mostly feldspars)
control principally the firing temperature. In the period analyzed, plastic raw materials consumption
in Italy slightly decreased from 51% to 43%. In Spain, the reduction was more severe (from 85% to
65%) as a result of the reduction of red-firing bodies, manufactured exclusively with local clays.
The IR of the Italian ceramic tile industry slightly decreased in the 2010-2014 period, passing from
60% to 56% (Fig. 5A). This is the result of the efforts spent to damp the batch cost by using domestic
raw materials, such as Sardinian feldspar. Since 2015 the IR value grew, peaking at 66% in 2017,
with a small decrease in the latest years. Such a trend mirrors the production of porcelain stoneware
tiles, with increasing mean size and thickness, and particularly the manufacturing of large slabs in
the Sassuolo district. Various tendencies converged towards a larger consumption of imported raw
materials (more plastic clays, whiter clays and feldspars), from the growing concern on compaction,
whiteness and sintering behavior to the increasing weight per square metre. The former
accompanied the spread of slab production that was initially performed with top quality raw materials
only (mostly imported). The latter was mainly a repercussion of the design of ever thicker tiles (for
special applications). The overall evolution of IR is faithfully reflected by imports of both plastic and
non-plastic raw materials, which attained in the latest years a value close to 80% and 50%,
respectively (Fig. 5B).
The higher volume of red-firing tiles manufactured in Spain, produced exclusively with domestic
clays, together with the availability of some domestic white-firing raw materials (ball clay, kaolin,
quartz and calcite) to produce wall tiles and porcelain stoneware makes the values of the Spanish
IR lower than that of Italy in the period 2010-2019 (Fig. 5A).

9
Fig. 5. Import Reliance for the average batch (A) and separately for plastic and non-plastic raw materials (B)
in Italy and Spain in the period 2010-2019.

However, due to the transformation of the Spanish tile production toward white-firing tiles, particularly
porcelain stoneware, the IR values have undergone an important rise from 2010 to 2019. In 2010
import reliance was low (25%) and was mainly due to the scarcity of domestic feldspars with the
appropriate characteristics for being used in porcelain stoneware (Fig. 5B). Then, after a reduction
in the IR values in 2012 due to greater increase in the red-firing tiles production with respect to white-
firing tiles, there was a steady increase in the IR until 2016, due to the stabilisation in the red firing
tile production and the increase of the white-firing ones. The IR increase is more pronounced from
2016 on, particularly for the need of ball clays with higher plasticity and whiteness (imported) for
manufacturing of porcelain stoneware tiles (Fig. 5B), reaching a value close to 45% in 2018 (Fig.
5A). After that, a decrease in the IR was observed probably caused by the introduction of higher
amounts of domestic ball clay in the formulations to keep the cost down. Non-plastic raw materials
showed IR values stable and close to 70% in the period, as almost all of the feldspar used is
imported, while limestone and quartz consumption is local.
The raw materials flow in the last decade (imports of ball clay and feldspar) is shown in Fig. 6. In the
case of Italy, the picture kept steady until 2014, with imports from Ukraine and Germany (ball clay)
and Turkey (feldspar) dominating over a range of minor suppliers. Then overall growth, already
evidenced for the 2014-2017 period, was essentially accomplished by increasing the imports of
German ball clays (Fig. 6B) and Turkish feldspars (Fig. 6C). About the ball clay supply, it can be
appreciated, since at least 2016, a general attempt to diversify the suppliers, witnessed by rising
contributions from Romania, Serbia, Spain, and Turkey, along with those rather steady from
Portugal, France, and the UK (Fig. 6A). This process was associated to a recent decrease of imports
from Germany in favor of Ukraine, which likely reflects changing conditions in the supply chain. The
situation of feldspar supply saw a small contraction of imports in the last three years, equally suffered
by the major flux suppliers of the Sassuolo district: Turkey, France, and by domestic sources as well.

10
Fig. 6. Imports of ball clay in Italy (A) and Spain (B), and feldspar in Italy (C) and Spain (D).

Spain has progressively increased the raw material imports as a result of the transition from
manufacturing red-firing bodies to white-firing, being feldspar and ball clay the main raw materials
imported. In the first case due to the scarcity of fluxing feldspar operations (Na and Na-K feldspars)
in Spain and the better quality/cost ratio of imported feldspars. In the second, the higher whiteness
and plasticity of imported clays is the cause.
Turkey is the most important source of the imported feldspar, followed by Italy (Sardinia). Both
account for more than 95% of the feldspar used in white-firing tiles. Portuguese, French and German
feldspars are seldom used due to strong Turkish competition. It is important to highlight the growth
of the Turkish feldspar imports, which have accelerated since 2015 as a result of the increase in the
manufacture of porcelain stoneware tiles. The feldspar import volume in 2018 was similar to that of
the Italian imports.
Regarding ball clay and kaolin, Spain is an important producer of both raw materials. However, the
whiteness requirements for porcelain stoneware together with the increase of the tile size and
thickness made it necessary the use of ball clays with greater whiteness and plasticity, which has
led to a growth in the ball clay imports. This increase is observed from 2012 onwards and is more
pronounced from 2016. The slowdown in 2018 must be associated with the regulation of stocks, as
already mentioned.
Great Britain and to a lesser extent France and Germany were the former sources of imported ball
clays to Spain, but in the last years their use in the manufacture of bodies is not significant, so they

11
have not been included in the figures. As well as in Italy, the greatest source of imported ball clay is
Ukraine for the suitable value for money respect to other imported clays. However, in recent years
clay from other regions has begun to be imported. This is the case of Portugal and more recently
Turkey and Romania which has slightly reduced the strong dependence of Ukrainian clay.

3.4. Comparison of supply chains in Italy and Spain

The supply chain of tile manufacturing districts like Sassuolo and Castelló is extremely articulated,
even considering only raw materials for ceramic bodies, and logistical networks are difficult to be
represented in detail due to their complexity. This is also due to the overall redundancy of the supply
system of the ceramic industry. Indeed, a common industrial policy in this sector is to have more
than one supplier for the same commodity. Since long-term supply contracts are rare, the general
trend is to keep multiple supply channels active at the same time.
The need for raw materials of the Sassuolo-Scandiano ceramic tile district is met through a logistical
network that presents various degrees of complexity (Fig. 7). Raw materials sources, as seen in Fig.
6, are spread over a circle of approximately 3200 km in radius, passing from ball clay deposits in
eastern Ukraine and the nepheline syenite mine near the North Cape to the local quarries of red clay
a few tens of kilometers from the tile factories. Such different distances are covered by various
means of transport, including diverse modes of delivery by truck, train, and sea. For long distances,
it is normally necessary to use more than one means of transport. This may also apply to medium
distances depending on the location of the mines (e.g., Elba or Sardinia islands). This supply chain
implies the existence of a multimodal transport system with intermodal nodes for the passage from
ship to train or from ship to truck (unloading ports of Ravenna, Monfalcone, Leghorn, Genoa, etc)
and viceversa (loading of raw materials in the ports closest to the various mines). In parallel, there
is the hub for the passage from train to truck (i.e., the Dinazzano rail yard) or intramodal nodes to
manage issues of the rail or road network (e.g., Domodossola rail yard or Campogalliano truck
terminal). In addition, single suppliers use their warehouses to manage the raw materials distribution
to the ceramic tile factories in the district. The raw materials delivered by multimodal systems amount
to slightly more than 60% of the total demand of the district (approximately 50% imported and 10%
from domestic sources). The fraction of mineral resources directly delivered by road is 22% (4%
imports and 18% domestic) and that transported by rail straightly to the Dinazzano hub is 16% (all
imported) of the total.

12
Fig. 7. Supply chain of the Sassuolo-Scandiano ceramic tile district (Italy). The routes are indicative of the main
means of transport (sea, train, truck). The thickness of traits is proportional to the amount of raw materials.

The supply chain in the ceramic district of Castelló (Fig. 8) is simpler due to the use of large amounts
of local raw materials (57 % in 2019) and the vicinity of the ceramic companies to the port of Castelló
(35 km). Thus, all red-firing clays, kaolin, quartz and limestone, as well as a significant part of the
ball clay (45%) are extracted from quarries located within 200 km, being common the use of red-
firing clays less from 100 km away. All of them are transported by truck to the spray-drying facilities,
with the exception of a ball clay from northern Spain which is transported by ship. With regard to
imported raw materials, Spain shares some of them with Italy, as is the case of the Ukrainian clay
and feldspars from Turkey and Sardinia, so the supply chain is similar, except for the competitive
advantage of the proximity of the ceramic companies to the port of Castelló, which greatly simplifies
transport logistics. In this way, the port of Castelló becomes a hub in the supply chain, both in terms
of the transfer of bulk raw materials, which has required the expansion of this facility through the
construction of the so-called Ceramic Dock, as well as the warehousing of raw materials to provide
an additional strategic reserve to the existing stocks in the spray-drying plants. In 2019, more than
5 Mton of ceramic raw materials were unloaded in this facility, of which 4.5 Mton were destined for
the manufacture of ceramic bodies. Once in the port of Castelló, the raw materials are either
transported directly by truck to the spray-drying plants or, in the case of some clays, mixtures are
made to achieve certain characteristics demanded by the end users.

13
Fig. 8. Supply chain of the Castellon ceramic tile district (Spain). The routes are indicative of the main means
of transport (sea, train, truck). The thickness of traits is proportional to the amount of raw materials and the
colour of the sources shows the raw material type (red: reg-firing clays, grey: ball clays and kaolin and green
non-plastic raw materials).

Beyond the considerable complexity of both supply chains, it is crucial to disclose the degree of
concentration of raw materials sources. In order to quantify possible criticalities stemming from high
concentration in the supply of feldspars and ball clays, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index was
calculated per country. This was an obvious choice, as information about the market share of
individual suppliers (companies) is unfortunately not available. Overall, the degree of concentration
is high, as the HHI values are always between 0.2 and 0.4 for ball clays and between 0.4 and 0.8 for
feldspars (Fig. 9).
The situation appears to be less critical for ball clays because together with the major supplier
(Ukraine) there is a second important source: Germany (for the Sassuolo-Scandiano district) and
the domestic production (for the Castelló district). In addition, a generalized effort to diversify the
sources of ball clay – witnessed by further countries recently entered in both supply chains – can be
traced in the downward trend of the HHI in the last two years in Italy and Spain. About feldspars, the
high concentration that characterizes the Sassuolo supply chain (0.45 < HHI < 0.5) has been
overpassed by the Castelló district (Fig. 9). The Spanish industry largely depends on the Turkish
deposits for its flux supply besides the amount of imports is similar in both districts.
14
Fig. 9. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index calculated for ball clay (A) and feldspathic materials (B) used by the
ceramic industry in Italy and Spain in the period 2010-2019.

3.5. Resource efficiency versus technological and market trends

The general trends in raw materials consumption, described in the previous sections, are the
cumulative result of individual choices of companies operating along the ceramic tile value chain.
Taken together, these choices define a global tendency that is influenced by different drivers. In fact,
notwithstanding the claimed concern on the environmental sustainability of ceramic production, the
resource efficiency is not the overwhelming driver in dictating the way the raw materials supply chain
is set up. There are always fundamental interferences that stem from technological innovation and
market drivers.
In this section, we are going to appraise which drivers prevailed in the industrial strategies to design
the actual supply chain of the Italian and Spanish ceramic tile districts. Our approach wants to
contrast the main drivers, active in the last decade, with the industrial choices in terms of typologies
of ceramic tiles, because they ultimately affected the demand of raw materials.
Drivers of resource efficiency are all aimed at reducing the environmental impact and carbon
footprint of the ceramic tile production. The most popular actions entail:
 use of local sources of raw materials, thus cutting cost and side-effects of long-distance transport
(Dondi, 1999; Timellini et al., 1999; Sánchez et al., 2006; Dondi et al., 2019);
 zero-waste production by reuse of manufacturing residues in cannibalistic loops (García-Ten et
al., 2016; Rambaldi et al., 2018a and 2018b);
 waste recycling: secondary raw materials in substitution of natural sources (Rambaldi et al., 2007;
García-Ten et al., 2016);
 damping the environmental drawback of logistics, essentially by privileging transportation means
with a lower impact per unit length of travel, i.e., sea or train instead of road (Ros-Dosdá et al.,
2018; Settembre Blundo et al., 2018);
 replacement of raw materials containing carbonates, which release CO2 during firing (Palmonari
and Timellini, 2002; González et al., 2016);

15
 promoting the role of “enablers”, which are high-performance raw materials that allow the
contextual use of low quality and low environmental impact resources, e.g., highly plastic clays
and strong fluxes (Dondi, 2018).
Technological drivers acted basically through either disruptive or incremental innovations, the most
relevant over the last decade being:
 new technologies able to manufacture large ceramic slabs, e.g., 360 x 160 cm (Raimondo et al.,
2010; Sánchez-Vilches et al., 2018);
 increased automation and integrated management of manufacturing and stock according to
industry 4.0 principles (Franceschelli, 2020; MAR, 2020-2027);
 widespread recourse to digital decoration, including an outstanding range of aesthetic effects
applied by inkjet printing, which ousted the other decoration techniques (Sanz et al., 2011; Dondi
et al., 2014);
 capacity to produce special products: thin slabs, thick tiles, functionalized surfaces, etc. (Da Silva
et al., 2018; MAR, 2020-2027);
 development of special bodies (super-white, ultra-white and translucent batches that are incolor
after firing (Cavalcante et al., 2004; MAR, 2020-2027).
The above described technological advancements went in the direction of an ever-stricter control on
the ceramic process. All they need a constant and predictable behavior of ceramic bodies, which
was in many cases pursued by fixing product and process parameters (e.g., batch composition, firing
schedule). These expectations converge towards the demand for high-quality raw materials,
apparently in contrast with sustainability schemes that see a short supply chain based on local
sources and low impact raw materials, including recycled wastes.
Commercial trends define drivers that heavily influence the strategies of ceramic tile manufacturers.
Those that most closely concern the typologies of product are:
 disclosing of new market niches, like products for the interior design or ventilated façades
(Bechthold et al., 2015; Silva, 2016);
 increasing product customization, which entails the capacity to deliver, on-demand, multiple
formats and finishing of the same tiles and slabs (MAR, 2020-2027);
 profitability that sees, in force of a considerable price gap, better profit margins for white-firing
bodies with respect to the corresponding red bodies (Hervas-Oliver and Davide, 2017);
 competitiveness, especially in terms of market price and quality/price ratio of tile installations
(MAR, 2020-2027);
 progressively increased awareness of the market regarding certain types of product (“brand effect”
of porcelain stoneware);
 strong competition from third countries with very low labour costs that produce red firing-tiles
(Giacomini, 2019; Mohassesian, 2019).
The above-mentioned drivers may mutually interfere in various ways. In some cases, two drivers
tend to magnify their effect, while interaction of other pairs leads to an attenuation of individual

16
effects. An estimation of relationships between drivers is illustrated by a matrix (Fig. 10) where a
color code is used to highlight the degree of correlation:
 Clear correlation when drivers always influence in the same way the industrial strategies. For
instance, the use of local sources of raw materials contributes to damp the environmental drawback
of logistics. At variance, the choice to compete in terms of low market price is in contrast with the
search for new market niches, which are gained through high standing products.
 Fair correlation when drivers can draw to similar decision-making, but they are not linked from the
technological or commercial point of view. For example, new technologies for large slabs can be
used to manufacture special ceramic products, but not necessarily.
 Scarce correlation when some interference may occur, e.g., the goal of zero-waste production,
might have positive repercussions on profit margin or cause some drawback to the capacity to
produce special products. In any case, this is usually not influential in industrial decisions about
the supply chain.
 No significant correlation between driver pairs.

Resource efficiency Technological innovation Market trends

no carbonates

special bodies

customization
large ceramic
raw materials
lower impact

profit margin
industry 4.0

drivers affecting the

new market

brand effect
zero-waste

low market
certificates
production

decoration
“enablers”
recycling
materials
local raw

products
logistics

product
special

“green”
niches
waste

raw materials
digital
slabs

price
supply chain

local raw
materials
zero-waste
production
Resource efficiency

waste recycling

lower impact
logistics
degree of
no carbonates
correlation
raw materials
amplification

“enablers”
clear
AMPLIFICATION

large ceramic
slabs
fair
Technological innovation

industry 4.0 scarce

digital
decoration
null
special
scarce
attenuation

products

special bodies fair

new market
niches
clear
product
customization
“green”
Market trends

certificates

profit margin

low market
price

brand effect

ATTENUATION

Fig. 10. Interaction between driver pairs that may magnify or damp the individual effect on industrial strategies
affecting the supply chain of raw materials. See text for explanation of color code.

17
Looking in detail at Fig. 10, correlations stand out particularly for many drivers of technological
innovation and market trends, which tend to enhance each other their effects. About resource
efficiency, drivers are generally not significantly affected by technological and commercial issues,
apart specific cases, such as special bodies and raw materials enablers.
The following is a general description of the reasons why the typology of products manufactured in
Italy and Spain are different in the period analysed and the effect of the main drivers on the type of
product manufactured. The Italian production of white-firing tiles in 2010 was 82% (mainly porcelain
stoneware, 74%), which was much higher than in Spain (28% in total, with 22% porcelain
stoneware). This difference is due to the fact that in 2010 over 75% of Italian production was
exported, mainly to regions with a high purchasing power, such as Northern Europe, the USA,
Canada and Australia, which could afford the higher selling price of porcelain stoneware (MAR 2020-
2027). Since 2010 on, Italy progressively concentrated its production on porcelain stoneware,
reaching 88% in 2019. On the contrary, Spain exports in 2010 were lower (69%) as a consequence
of the higher domestic sales (31%), where red-firing tiles were the most sold product. In addition,
Spanish exports were destined to European Union countries, but also to other regions with a lower
purchasing power, such as North Africa and the Middle East. The Spanish building crisis in 2008
meant a dramatically reduction of domestic sales, with a drop of 40%. The reaction of the Spanish
tile industry was to increase the manufacture of white-firing bodies to urge exports to countries with
a greater purchasing power, less affected by the crisis. This increase is particularly significant from
2016 onwards, with 48% of porcelain stoneware being manufactured in 2019 and only 33% of red
firing tiles.
Red-firing (both floor and wall) tiles were mainly produced in the ceramic district of Castelló (Sanchez
et al., 2006). The main drivers were the use of local (cheap) raw materials and a low selling price.
The industrial strategy in Spain focused in the creation of large industrial groups through the
expansion of facilities, installation of high productivity plants and the taking over of medium-small
size companies. The availability of a large number of production lines allows for the optimisation of
facilities, achieving a high efficiency and productivity, which, with the advantages offered by
economies of scale, makes it possible to offer high quality products at a very competitive price.
Currently 5 industrial groups manufacture more than 60% of the red firing tiles in Spain.
The main driver in the production of white-firing wall tiles was the profit margin with respect to red-
firing tiles. These products were mainly sold in regions with a high purchasing power for wall covering
in combination with porcelain stoneware tiles for flooring. However, the use of the latter product in
both floor and wall coverings is gradually gaining market shares. About white-firing floor tiles, before
the arrival of porcelain stoneware, the main drivers were the same as in wall tiles. Nonetheless, with
the introduction of glazed porcelain stoneware tiles in 1990, a progressive shift from white-firing floor
tiles towards porcelain stoneware tiles was observed. This occurred because of the technical
similarity of both products and the lower profit margin of the former with respect to the latter. In the

18
last decade, the manufacturing of white-firing floor tiles decreased dramatically, to the point it is no
longer produced in Spain.
Porcelain stoneware is the last product entered in the market. In force of its better technical
properties, its production increased considerably, first in Italy, then in Spain. Most of the drivers
impact on this product and help to increase the profit margin, thanks to the outstanding marketing
campaigns launched by tile producers. Most of the research and technological innovations are
addressed to porcelain stoneware: development of special products and bodies (high whiteness,
translucent. etc.), implementation of Industry 4.0 concepts and the installation of the latest
technologies for producing large slabs used in high value applications, like cooking tops, furniture,
façades, etc. (Sanchez et al., 2010; Raimondo et al., 2010; Franceschelli 2020). All these
achievements eased the product customisation and the access to new market niches. In addition,
high purchase power customers appreciate green certificates and well-known brands. Such a
trending option is related to zero-waste production and waste recycling from other industries.
Drivers have a different effect on the various typologies of tiles, according to batch design, production
technology, product specifications and market position of each kind of ceramic tiles. Such effects
were estimated based on frequency and extent by which a given driver is considered in the industrial
practice. This assessment was possible by knowing in detail the use of raw materials (Dondi, 1999
and 2018; Dondi et al., 2014 and 2019; García-Ten and Regueiro, 2008; Sánchez et al., 2006), the
practice of waste recycling (García-Ten et al., 2016; Rambaldi et al., 2007, 2018a and 2018b), the
technological innovation intake (Dondi, 1999; Dondi et al., 2014; Sánchez et al., 2010) and market
evolution for ceramic tiles (MAR, 2020-2027). Overall, this picture reflects the official position of
industrial stalkeholders. By this way, a graphic representation of the weight that each driver has had
on the different typologies of tiles is illustrated in Fig. 11. A quantitative discrimination was proposed
between:
- low or insignificant effect (seldom considered or only by single companies);
- moderate effect (often considered by companies, it does not induce actions able to affect the overall
industrial strategies);
- strong effect (followed by the large part of tile manufacturers, it determines a clear orientation of
industrial strategies).
This picture suggests, looking at the predominant orientation of market drivers, the reasons behind
the productive conversion to porcelain stoneware tiles and slabs. However, a significant market
share is substantially driven by price. Thus, the supply chain of raw materials, in case of products
commercialized essentially on a price basis, is little influenced.

19
Fig. 11. Relevance of drivers (resource efficiency, technological innovation, market trends) for different
typologies of ceramic tiles. Color code indicates estimated effects on industrial strategies that can influence
the supply chain of raw materials. See text for details.

Account must be taken that many commercial drivers are substantially enabled by technological
development. In some cases, clear cause-effect links arise, and technological innovation seems to
be driven by a specific market demand (e.g., large slabs for ventilated façades and interior design).
Some drivers seem to be neutral with respect to the product type (e.g., digital decoration) while
others are specific and can reverberate particularly on the selection of raw materials for porcelain
stoneware bodies. Drivers directly concerning resource efficiency seem to affect all the typologies of
tiles, even though with a different weight. The achievement of zero-waste production and the
increasing recourse to secondary raw materials are a common effort, but these actions have larger
effects in the batch design of porcelain stoneware than in case of other typologies. On the other
hand, the strong emphasis on the impact of transport, which usually emerges from LCA studies,
does not translate uniquely in the simplistic exhortation to use local sources of raw materials. The
advantages of the short supply chain can be counterbalanced by the impact of heavy road traffic,

20
while long-distance delivery is carried out through a logistics with a lower impact. Product typologies
that reside mainly of long-travelling raw materials can exploit better other drivers, like the beneficial
role of “enablers”.
We need to think about which elements can slow down the main changes towards the conversion of
the ceramic tile production into a fully sustainable and circular economy. Market trends are obviously
a key factor for the ceramic industry, and they tend to determine the tile manufacturers’ decisions
that affect the supply chain. The most direct way to bring out environmental factors is to include
issues concerning raw materials among the decision-making elements. This is happening thanks to
the release of the so-called “green certificates” (Monfort, 2012) but this is a phenomenon that
currently affects only a part of the producers of ceramic tiles, mostly porcelain stoneware (EPD,
2016-2021), and a change of pace is necessary.
With this in mind, it would be essential to upgrade the supply chain as a primary sustainability factor
for the ceramic industry in order to activate the synergy between market and technological
innovation. It is precisely the development of appropriate technological solutions that can remove
the main obstacles to a wider use of local and secondary raw materials. A specific mention goes to
the limitations related to the iron oxide content and the refractoriness of raw materials (Eynard et al.,
2020). Bypassing these obstacles would make it possible to exploit a large range of local resources
and industrial wastes. However, this objective requires a considerable effort of research and
development, which cannot be put into practice directly by the suppliers of ceramic plants and
technology but involves also tile manufacturers and academia. In the first place, it is necessary to
develop new types of bodies (e.g., a porcelain stoneware-like batch with higher iron content) and
acquire a basic knowledge of the phenomena that govern their technological behavior, in particular
during firing.

4. Conclusions
In the latest years, the production of ceramic tiles has been gradually changing in Spain and Italy,
according to two clearly distinct strategies. Whilst Italy is even more focused on porcelain stoneware,
moving towards ever larger sizes and big slabs, Spain is rapidly modifying the share between red
bodies and white bodies, with a great increase of porcelain stoneware, mainly at expenses of red-
firing floor tiles.
This picture had deep repercussions on the demand of raw materials: the growing output of porcelain
stoneware enhanced the demand of ball clays and feldspathic materials. Within this tendency, a
strong increase occurred for special kinds of raw materials, like high plasticity clays (mostly from
Ukraine) and sodic feldspar (mostly from Turkey). As far as porcelain stoneware is concerned, this
situation determined an increasing stress on the supply chain, since both Italy and Spain rely on the
same sources for 80% of their needs. Now Spain appears to be even more exposed than Italy to the
access to highly plastic ball clays (Ukraine) and sodic feldspar (Turkey).

21
Such an increasing recourse to imported raw materials created a strong exposure, particularly for
the Sassuolo district, with import reliance up to 80%, depending on the type of raw material. This
picture is made more serious by the fact that Italy and Spain compete for the same sources together
with many other ceramic producing countries.
Measures to mitigate the supply risk are necessary, because known reserves of highly plastic ball
clays and sodic feldspars are limited, and no economic viable alternatives can be pointed out at
present. In addition, the competition with non-EU tile manufacturers for the Ukrainian and Turkish
raw materials is growing. It opens some lines to diversify the raw materials sources:
a) The improvement of transport logistics from the raw material production centres to both ceramic
districts through the implementation of efficient logistic corridors by rail or large tonnage ships to
reduce transport costs. This is the case of the German ball clays, widely used in Italy thanks to
the existence of a direct rail connection. At variance, the use of ball clays from France and the
United Kingdom as well as French feldspars is contrasted by high transport cost by road and low
tonnage ships.
b) The improvement of the characteristics of local raw materials by beneficiation processes to limit
the effect of colouring compounds (mainly iron) and to remove the coarser granulometric fractions
from ball clays. There are already some installations that carry out these purification processes
with good results.
c) The substitution of natural raw materials by secondary raw materials in the frame of the Circular
Economy. This is the case of the fluxes in which the use of recycled glass is a promising
alternative for a partial reduction of feldspar consumption.
d) Raw materials enablers and additives can improve the tile process behaviour and final properties.
Binders and energic fluxes allow the use of lower plasticity clays as well as feldspars with a lesser
fusibility.
This situation is paving the way to future research in the frame of Circular Economy (natural raw
materials can be partially replaced by secondary raw materials). In addition, a new concept of
ceramic batches must be developed to allow a more efficient exploitation of the European deposits
of ceramic raw materials, especially those not utilized for technological reasons.
The overall trends in raw materials consumption reflect individual choices of companies operating
along the ceramic tile value chain. Notwithstanding the claimed concern on the environmental
sustainability of ceramic production, the resource efficiency is not the primary driver that dictates
how the supply chain is set up. In any case, there are relevant interferences from other drivers linked
to technological innovation and market trends.

Acknowledgements
This work was carried out within the activities of CRAM (Towards a raw materials strategy for the European
ceramic industry) a Commitment of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials.

22
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Timellini, G., Fregni, A., & Rinaldi, C. (1999). Use of local raw materials for the manufacture of ceramic floor
and wall tile by companies located in the ceramic district of Sassuolo (Italy): Environmental aspects. Ceram.
Acta, 11(5), 21-31.
Vignocchi, G. G. (2017). The industrial districts of Castelló de la Plana and Sassuolo, a historical and economic
comparison. Master Thesis, University Jaume I, Castelló, Spain, 104 p.

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 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Table S1. Main properties and applications of ceramic tiles

Porcelain White-firing White-firing Red-firing Red-firing

Property
stoneware floor tiles wall tiles floor tiles wall tiles

Water absorption (%) <0.5 0.5 - 3.0 18 - 19 2-6 14-16

Bulk density (kg/m-3) 2380-2450 2300-2350 1700-1850 2250-2300 1750-1900

Bending strength (MPa) 35-55 32-42 23-25 28-44 25-32

Frost resistance Yes Yes No No No

Moisture expansion (‰) <0.2 <0.2 0.4-1.0 <0.3 0.3-0.8

Thickness (mm) 3-30 8-10 7-11 7-10 6-9

Dimensions (larger side,

150-3500 450-1200 100-1200 300-800 100-800
mm)

Indoor X X X X X

Outdoor X X - X -
Applications

Flooring X X - X -

Walling X - X - X
kitchen
Others countertops, - - - -
furniture, etc.

Table S2. Weight raw materials per square meter (kg/m2)

Porcelain White-firing floor White-firing wall Red-firing floor Red-firing wall

stoneware tiles tiles tiles tiles

22.5 21.0 19.8 20.6 18.0

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