The floor covering market - Spain

1.2 Sustained and steady growth at the global level

Revenues from flooring manufacturing activities are expected to reach ***.** billion euros in **** worldwide, according to estimations.

These assessments include the production of finishing materials used to cover floors, such as knotted, woven, tufted and textile carpets, wood floors, laminates, linoleum, self-adhesive tapes and other plastic coatings. Ceramic tiles and other hard floor coverings are excluded. This figure also covers only the sale of materials, excluding installation services.

The market is expected to grow by *.*% per year (***), reaching ***.** billion euros in the last year Over the period ****-****, the market grew at an average rate of *.*% .

Source: ****

The United States is the leading producer of floor coverings, representing **.*% of world production in value terms . India, China and Japan come next, the leading European country and the fifth largest in the world being the United Kingdom, with *.*% of the shares. Portugal comes far behind, with about *.*% of world production and *.*% of European production.

Source: ****

1.3 The Spanish market dominated by azulejos

A decade ago, the flooring market collapsed in Spain; between **** and ****, incomes fell by an estimated -**.*% on average based on Eurostat data.

However, this industry has experienced significant growth since ****, with growth rates exceeding **% in **** and ****. Over the period **** - ****, we note an average annual growth of the sector of **.*% . According to the report's estimates, the sector's growth is expected to fall below *% from **** onwards .

Source: ****

In detail, the figures of Spanish industry on the manufacture of floor coverings, given by the Statistical Institute Eurostat show that production has been growing since ****. While the production of carpets and rugs increased relatively little (***) increased strongly. [***]

Traditionally, "the" azulejos "are very popular in Portugal and Spain . These are as follows earthenware tiles sometimes painted with figurative images or geometric figures, which are used to cover walls. As the comparison of these two graphs shows, the production of tiles far exceeds that of other floor coverings in Spain

   Source: ****

Source: ****

Note : The editing of these statistics and the fields used are described in Part *: Regulations, section on nACE nomenclature.

1.4 Exports remain important for the sector

Spain exported a total of $*.** billion worth of flooring products in ****. The country imported $***.* million worth of the same products, or a coverage rate (***) of ***% . [***]

However, without tiles and paving stones, exports only represent $***.* million and imports represent $**.* million.

In detail, Spain's trade balance is slightly in surplus in terms of parquet flooring with a coverage rate of ***.*% . On the other hand, with regard to carpets and plastic coverings, it appears that Spain imports more than it exports . The coverage rates for these two products are **.*% and **.*% respectively.

For tiles and paving slabs, the coverage rate is *,***%, which means that Spain exports nearly ** times more than it exports any of these products .

Imports, excluding tiles and paving slabs, increased in * years while exports remained broadly constant. In ****, imports of floor coverings totalled ***.* million euros while exports reached **.* million euros The coverage rate therefore increased from **.*% in **** to **.*% from **** to ****.

However, these data must be put into perspective since they do not take into account imports and exports of tiles and paving slabs.

Source: ****

Finally, with regard to the countries of origin and destination of the various floor coverings, the United States is at the top of the two flows in ****, and ...

1.5 Summary of market determinants

Below is a summary and qualitative evolution of the various criteria that have a direct impact on the activities of French leather goods manufacturers.

2.1 The new construction market is on the rise again

The demand for floor coverings is mainly related to the construction of new housing. However, with the **** financial crisis, which hit Spain hard, new housing construction fell dramatically. While about ***,*** homes were built in ****, just under ***,*** were built two years later. [***]

However, the number of building permits remained relatively stable during the **** period. This implies that the number of collective dwellings built has decreased very sharply, which is verified by INE data.

Source: ****

However, since ****, the sector has been experiencing a slow recovery with an average annual increase in the number of homes built of **.*%, rising from **,*** in **** to over **,*** in ****. This increase can perhaps be explained by construction prices, which fell sharply from **** onwards and remained at their lowest level in **** and ****.

Source: ****

Thus, as shown in the graph below, the construction sector has seen a slight increase in production since ****, while remaining strongly linked to the month of the year. The early years are generally less important for the industry with lower production. Conversely, spring and fall are periods of high activity.

Source: ****

2.2 The place of DIY in Spain

Spain is not necessarily a country in which DIY, or ? do it yourself? is popular, as explained by Ferretero Canal . However, the website explains that the DIY sector grew by *.*% in **** and by *.*% in ****.

This is due to a growing interest in DIY in Spain, which allows them to save agent while housing construction prices rise. The report of the AECOC (***) notes that DIY equipment buyers have a clear idea of what they want to buy in **% of cases. The report also explains that advertising, video tutorials and product specialization on showers and kitchens could increase sales in the future.

The importance of influencers on social networks is highlighted by Ferretero Canal . The latter represent an advertisement on social networks that can reach several thousand people.

In order to purchase their equipment, consumers can count on an efficient mass distribution network. L’ AFEB (***) thus represents *** members who generate more than * billion euros in turnover in the country.

3.1 The construction sector in Spain is fragmented

Eurostat data provide a complete overview of the size of construction companies in Spain. About two-thirds of them have no employees, indicating the importance of the self-employed in Spain in the construction sector. [***]

Source: ****

By focusing solely on the building finishing sector, which includes floor and wall covering activities, it is possible to determine that companies without employees generate **.*% of the sector's turnover. On the other hand, companies with more than ** employees generate only **.*% of the sector's turnover.

Source: ****

Between **** and ****, Eurostat data show that for building finishing companies, average turnover per employee increased by **.*%. This increase can be identified for companies in the sector, regardless of their size - with the exception of those employing between ** and ** people.

However, companies in the building finishing sector generate a much lower turnover per employee and per company than in the construction sector - respectively EUR *** *** and EUR *,** million).

4.1 The different types of floor coverings

The tiling

Made of ceramic or stone, this type of covering has the advantage of being very easy to maintain, and offers an immense diversity of paving depending on the pattern, colour and material used. Among the stone tiles, we find:

Granite stones The slate stones The marble stones

Both natural stone and ceramic tiles are wear-resistant and have a long service life.

The parquet floor

It is certainly the warmest of all floor coverings; the name parquet refers to all forms of solid wood or mixtures of wood and other materials to establish a pattern on the floor.

Traditional parquet floors made of planks. Laminated parquet floors Laminated parquet floors which consist of several layers.

Laminated parquet, i. e. laminated parquet with a thinner upper solid wood layer.

The only drawback is that parquet floors need maintenance and tend to wear out quickly due to scratches and loss of shine. Its average price in Spain is **.* euros per m * . [***]

The laminate

Laminate is a coating composed of a layer of agglomerated wood fibres and a decorative top layer. In most cases, the decorative layer of the laminate imitates the texture of solid wood, but imitation tile patterns also exist. The ...

4.2 Floor covering trends

Some decoration trends are currently affecting coatings in Spain. The country is particularly fond of ceramics - the azulejos inherited from the Arabs present in the country before the Reconquista - who are therefore particularly concerned by current trends.

Decotherapy presents the * main trends in ceramics, identified by the Observatory of Housing Trends:

Dramatic Interior Considering that Less is Bore, this trend particularly uses bright, almost baroque ceramics. Soft Heritage This trend uses soft tones, with ceramics with original but rounded shapes. Savage Soul : the ceramics of this movement represent nature or try to evoke it via colors close to green. Plug A trend that wants to bring colour back into life with multicoloured ceramics, which evoke our television screens.

Homify explains that concrete is also becoming trendy again, after its success in the ****s. With its neutral and indifferent appearance, it breaks with the traditional appearance of Spanish homes.

5.1 Nomenclature used in the study

The European Classification of Economic Activities (***) is the reference framework for the production and dissemination of statistics on economic activities in Europe.

NACE is an integral part of the statistical infrastructure used within the European Statistical System for the production of comparable statistics. Because of its links with the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (***), NACE is an important tool for the comparison of statistical data on economic activities at world level.

The statistics produced on the basis of NACE are comparable at European level and, in general, at world level. The use of NACE is mandatory within the European Statistical System

The last revision dates from **** and thus replaces NACE Rev. *.*.

As part of this study, we developed statistics from the following fields:

****xxxx : Manufacture of plastic floor coverings ****xxxx : Linoleum ****xxxxxx : Manufacture of carpets and rugs ****xxxxxx : Manufacture of pure wooden floors

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, generally referred to as the "Harmonized System" or "HS", is a multi-purpose international nomenclature developed by the World Customs Organization (***).

It comprises approximately *,*** commodity groups, identified by a six-digit code and classified according to a legal and logical structure, and is based on well-defined rules to facilitate ...

5.2 Floor covering standards

All international standards for the manufacture and design of floor coverings are available on the official website of International Organization for Standardization.

There are a large number of them concerning floor coverings, all referenced in the ISO/TC *** category.

ISO ****:****

Carpet: Determination of the number of tufts and/or loops per unit length and per unit area

ISO/DIS ****

Textile floor coverings -- Determination of the number of tufts and/or loops per unit length and per unit area

ISO ****:****

Machine-made textile floor coverings -- Determination of thickness

ISO ****:****

Textile floor coverings -- Determination of hair thickness above the substrate

With regard to the various construction markets, European regulations in this area are referenced at this address

The regulation (***) No ***/**** of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes harmonised marketing conditions for construction products and repealing Council Directive **/***/EEC

The delegated regulation N°***/**** of ** February **** amends Annex III to Regulation (***) No ***/**** of the European Parliament and of the Council on the model to be used for the preparation of a declaration of performance for a construction product  

5.3 The national standards currently in force

The Technical Building Code currently in force since ****, sets the safety and habitability standards for buildings built in Spain, which are themselves set by the Ley de Ordenación de la Construcción. This code must be respected by all construction professionals and manufacturers of equipment for the profession, under penalty of penalty.

The site Línea Prevención is the document that presents the obligations for floor coverings in Spain with the document DB-PRL-SOL. This describes the appropriate working conditions with the associated causes of risk and the strength of the materials used, for example.

5.1 Segmentation of actors

• Amorim Revestimientos
• Matfi3
• Rufete
• Unicer
• Matimex
• Forbo Flooring System
• Revestimientos Ruiz
• RP Revestimientos
• Leroy Merlin Espagne
• Bauhaus