Andil Annual Meeting
Further consolidation required in Italy’s brick and tile industry
Andil (Associazione Nazionale degli Industriali dei Laterizi) held their as always well-attended annual meeting in Rome on June 14. Like last year, the market situation had centre-of-attention status under the chairmanship of Andil’s unanimously re-elected president Luigi Di Carlantonio.
In comparison with the pre-crisis year 2007, in which a total of 20.494 million tons of heavy clay products were sold, total output in 2012 dropped to a mere 7.481 million tons. Floor filler blocks, partition bricks/blocks and clayware suffered the worst declines, with all three registering production losses in excess of 70% (2012 vs. 2007). That negative trend carried forward into the early part of 2013, too.
Andil’s president bemoaned the fact that prices were still too low, often to the point of being sold below prime cost.
There was general agreement on the need to close down some additional...
