The world has changed a great deal since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of 2019. One aspect of this change is a shift in the way the rest of the world views China, the country where the pandemic originated. This has directly benefited the ceramic industries of India in general and Gujarat in particular.
According to those involved in the ceramic industry, many countries including Europe, America, and the Gulf which used to buy ceramic products from China have now turned to India.
Despite the weak domestic market in this scenario, the industry is recovering from the downturn due to export trade. The size of the ceramic industry in India during 2020-21 is worth Rs. 45,000 crore and is expected to rise.
According to information, Gujarat’s Morbi is the hub of the ceramic industry in India with over 900 units contributing nearly 92 per cent of the entire country’s tile production, which comes to around 6.5 per cent of the entire world’s production.
Ceramic products worth Rs 14,000 crore are exported to various countries every year from Morbi.
“Ceramic products worth about Rs 7000 crore were exported in the first six months of the current financial year. Exports are 20% higher than last year. We are building two state-of-the-art high-tech plants in Morbi with an investment of Rs 300 crore. We currently have a 20% export business in our turnover which we want to increase to 30%,” said an official of a leading ceramic industry.
Former President of Morbi Ceramic Association K. G. Kundaria said there was no work for the first two months due to the lockdown but as everything started opening up, there was a huge increase in exports.
“Exports of Rs 13,000-13,500 crore are expected. Exports could be 30-35% higher this year than last year. Many countries are offended by China. The US has imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese products and other countries can do the same. All this is benefiting Morbi and India’s ceramic industries”, said Kundaria.
Nilesh Jetpariya, President of the wall tiles division of Morbi Ceramic Association, said, “Given the growing demand, the industrialists here are expanding.” Morbi currently has about 900 ceramic plants and another 60 new plants are being built. In all these plants, a total of about Rs. 3000 crore will be invested. Global buyers are relying more on the quality of Indian products than China and that is why the demands from European countries have increased.