The tile and brick industry in the red in 2023

The crisis in the new housing market, the sluggishness and uncertainties in the renovation market are having a very significant impact on the tile and brick industry.

Brick, used almost exclusively for new housing (individual houses and collective housing), is bearing the brunt of the crisis in the sector and ends the year with deliveries falling by 25%, or 1,4 million tonnes delivered.

The fall in new housing, the sluggishness of renovation and a significant volume of stock still present among roofers and traders explain that deliveries of tiles also suffered a very sharp drop of -19% at the end of December 2023 by compared to 2022, i.e. 1,9 million tonnes delivered.

Stocks restored to pre-Covid levels and production slowing significantly

In 2023, manufacturers maintained production levels allowing them to replenish stocks – historically low, for tiles in particular. Thus, stocks have almost doubled over the period, returning to the pre-COVID level, i.e. the equivalent of more than 3 months of deliveries to the parks.

In detail, the production of structural bricks decreased by 18,5% and that of tiles by 8% compared to 2022.

The sector hard hit

For Frédéric Didier, President of the French Tiles and Bricks Federation: “This is a difficult time for our industry, our factories, our employees and the outlook for 2024 is not better. The continued and sharp decline in demand for materials due to the collapse in building permits and construction starts is having a serious impact on the entire profession. The entire construction industry is at half mast. Even though the entire profession is making heavy investments to be part of the energy and ecological transformation of industry and buildings with an ambitious objective of decarbonizing our production by 2030 and 2050*, the housing crisis is affecting greatly our businesses. We call on public authorities to take economic and social measure of the emerging crisis. »

The tile and brick industry in figures

• 98% of tiles and bricks used in France are produced in France
• 125 production lines
• 1 new housing (individual and collective) out of 3 made of bricks
• 70% of individual houses and 40% of collective housing protected by tiles

Sources of delivery, production, inventory data:

The FFTB is a professional organization approved for the collection of monthly results from its nationals. It is delegated by INSEE to carry out public statistical surveys for the manufacturing of bricks, tiles and terracotta construction products branch. The main purpose of the public statistical surveys carried out pursuant to this delegation is to measure industrial production on a monthly basis. The published figures come from this collection.