Polished tiles were once the darling of the ceramic category and were hailed as "a classic of the generation." At its peak in 2011, polished tiles were the well-deserved "king of floor tiles". With 1,025 production lines and a scale advantage of 3.91 billion square meters across the country, polished tiles firmly ranked first and dominated "half of the world's interior decoration.
But now, this former "king" is approaching his "twilight years" in a silent and sad way.
According to the latest statistics from "Ceramic Information", there are only 157 polished tile production lines left in the country in 2021, and a considerable part of them have been suspended for a long time. Conservative calculations show that there are only about 100 polished tile production lines in normal production across the country, which is 10% of the peak period.
Polished tile lines dropped sharply by 868 in 10 years
Ten major provinces have completely abandoned the production of polished tiles
Polished tiles are gradually withdrawing from public view at a speed visible to the naked eye. Data show that there were 1,025 polished tile production lines in the country in 2011, which dropped to 837 in 2014, dropped sharply again to 487 in 2017, and by the end of 2020, there were only 157 left.
In the past 10 years, the number of polished tile production lines nationwide has decreased by 868, with a shrinkage rate of an astonishing 85%. On average, nearly 100 polished tile production lines have been withdrawn every year through technical transformation, dismantling, etc...
From the perspective of regional distribution of categories, polished tiles were the "standard equipment" for ceramic companies 10 years ago. There were 22 provinces producing polished tiles across the country, and nearly a hundred county-level production areas. Now, across the country Only 12 provinces still produce polished tiles.
The top 10 provinces that once produced polished tiles, including Fujian, Shandong, Shanxi, Yunnan, Anhui, Gansu, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shanghai, have completely withdrawn from the production of polished tiles in the past 10 years. In large production areas such as Jiajiang in Sichuan and Zibo in Shandong, polished tiles have long since disappeared and become history.
At its peak in 2011, there were 601 polished tile lines in Guangdong, 166 polished tile lines in Shandong, 81 polished tile lines in Jiangxi, and 47 polished tile lines in Sichuan... But in 2019, as the west The last polished tile line in Jiajiang, the porcelain capital, was converted to production. The remaining two polished tile production lines in Zibo and Linyi were all stopped and converted. From then on, there were no polished tiles in Shandong and only two were left in Sichuan.
A sales manager of a ceramics company in Foshan said with emotion that the number of polished tile production lines in Guangdong has decreased significantly. The main reason is that the prices are transparent and the products are single in color. They are basically unprofitable. Some ceramics companies are even facing a lack of product sales. The embarrassing situation of getting out. "The current uses are limited to engineering and export, and the majority of manufacturers are large factories."
An industry person in the northern production area recalled to "Ceramic Information" that as early as 2012, Pilates could still be sold for 22 yuan/piece, but now the price has dropped to 11 yuan/piece, and the quality has also dropped from The weight of each package is reduced from 49 kg to 33 kg. "In the past, customers would prepare goods in winter, and a single shipment would cost 3 million yuan, but now they cannot ship three trucks of goods in one winter." The sharp decline in the polished tile market and the plummeting profits are disappointing.
In the three northeastern provinces, there were 32 polished tile production lines at the peak, but now only 3 are left, and only 1 line is left in normal production. Polished tiles have almost completely withdrawn from the Northeast.
Chen Wenming, general manager of Shenyang Datang Ceramics Co., Ltd., analyzed that the withdrawal of polished tiles in the Northeast reflects two problems: First, the pace of upgrading ceramic tile products in the Northeast is increasing, and polished tiles have become "outdated products", especially In the vast rural areas, polished tiles have been almost completely abandoned; secondly, after Faku Ceramics switched from coal to gas, the increase in costs has forced companies to take the route of high value-added products, and the output of low-end polished tiles has therefore shrunk. This is a structural problem on the supply side of the industry. the inevitable result of reform.
From “The First Brother in the Pottery Industry” to “The Seventh Brother”
There are only 100 polished tile lines left in production across the country
What is even more lamentable is that after 10 years of continuous shrinkage, polished tiles, once the "biggest brother in the ceramics industry", have now become the "seventh largest category", with less than the number of production lines. Medium plate and rock plate have just emerged in the past few years, and their shrinkage continues.
According to statistics, among the only 157 polished tile production lines in the country, a considerable part have been out of production for a long time, and conservative statistics of the number still in normal production are only about 100, or even less.
For example, Liaoning currently has 3 polished tile lines, but only 1 is in normal production; Hebei currently has 14 polished tile lines, but less than half are in normal production; Henan currently has 5 polished tile lines, but 2 are in normal production. No lines are in production... In addition, many polished tile lines in Guangdong and Guangxi are idle.
“The polished tile lines of some ceramic factories have been fully or partially idle for a long time.It has been switched to produce other products, but considering the unsatisfactory market situation in recent years, it has not dared to invest heavily in changing the line, so it has been idle. "An industry insider in Henan analyzed to "Ceramic Information" that in fact, it is impossible to restart some of the existing polished tile lines, and the polished tile production lines will continue to be reduced in the future.
In the past two years, the "coal-to-gas" transition and the continued rise in production costs have also accelerated the shrinkage and withdrawal of polished tiles. Especially in 2021, fuel, energy, raw materials, cartons, etc. will increase across the board. The production cost of ceramic tiles will increase by as little as 1 yuan/piece and as much as 2 yuan/piece. As a result, polished tiles that have already been "profitable as thin as paper" and have transparent prices will Profits are even thinner, further accelerating manufacturers' abandonment of production and dealers' abandonment of sales.
The road ahead is bleak. As the polished bricks are "retreating", the last "position" to hold on - the finely decorated houses, along with the onslaught of glazed bricks, has also shown signs of loosening. In recent years, it has become more and more popular. More and more commercial buildings use glazed tiles for public areas and interior decoration...
Emotions VS Reality
A classic "Heroes grow late"
In the nearly 30 years of production history, this wear-resistant and durable classic product has created a deep "polished brick plot" among many people in the industry.
“Out of ten ceramic people, five have sold polished tiles.” For many ceramic people, polished tiles have long gone beyond the scope of ordinary products. They carry the dreams, feelings and memories of a generation of ceramic people.
An industry insider in Sichuan recalled that when the company's first line of micro-powder polished tiles was put into production, dealers in Xi'an, Kunming and Panzhihua all came to pick up the goods with cash. "This kind of passionate years that will never come back makes people sigh and miss them."
It is often said that classics never go out of style, but polished tiles, a "classic in the ceramic industry that has been glorious for more than thirty years", are now deeply labeled with negative labels such as "outdated products" and "the end of the road".
Many ceramic people say that despite the popularity of glazed tiles, they will definitely choose polished tiles when decorating their homes because of their excellent quality and durability. However, no matter how warm the feelings are, they will eventually be shattered by the cold reality - today it is said that polished tiles will be used for decoration, but tomorrow glazed tiles will be quietly installed.
On one side is the industry cry that "polished tiles will definitely make a comeback", on the other side is the increasingly miserable production and sales data. Whether you are willing to accept the reality or not, the worst result is that the "last moment" of sad farewell to polished tiles seems to be getting closer and closer.
A few years later, perhaps we can only see her new and timeless gorgeous figure without any trace of time in the dilapidated old building.
No matter how warm your feelings are, they can't match the cold reality. Does a generation of classics really have a chance to make a comeback and fight back?
(The article is reproduced from Ceramic Information)
