Markets
Chart Beat: India's tile exports bounce back amid challenges, end FY24 at record
Summary
- Tile exports declined to 41 msm in January 2024 from a peak of 62 msm in August 2023, but March 2024 saw a turnaround.
- However, it remains to be seen whether the recent recovery sustains amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.
Despite facing setbacks due to increased ocean freight costs and prolonged transit times sparked by the Red Sea crisis, India's tile exports have shown remarkable resilience. After a decline to 41 million square meters (msm) in January 2024 from a peak of 62 msm in August 2023, a tangible turnaround has emerged. March 2024 witnessed a robust 9% month-on-month increase in export volumes.
By the close of FY24, tile exports had surged by 28% year-on-year, achieving a record-breaking 590 msm, according to data from the commerce ministry, compiled by Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. In value terms, too, exports grew a significant 26% year-on-year, surpassing the ₹20,000 crore milestone.
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That said, it remains to be seen whether the recent recovery sustains amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. Geographically, the US retained its position as the top importer of Indian tiles, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Mexico.
Meanwhile, the management of listed tile maker Kajaria Ceramics Ltd is hopeful of demand recovery in FY25, given robust real estate sales and also expects momentum in exports to sustain. Peer Somany Ceramics Ltd has witnessed an improvement in export run-rate in the March quarter of FY24 and eyes high-single digit to low-double digit volume growth in FY25, beating the estimated industry growth of 4-6%.
