Tile makers battle Spanish grit stone

What do Americans, Russians and Romanians have in common? If comparing their interior decoration tastes, they all like the Spanish grit stone. Imports have practically exploded on the ceramic tile market in the last three years, from more than 10% to approximately half of the total sales. “The imports from Spain and Italy came with perfectly designed display, they knew how to leave the average Romanian breathless by pushing vivid, joyful colours on the market. Imports have exploded on the Romanian market since 2000, a trend that has also spread to the other markets in the region. Hungary, which is the most developed market in the region (consumption per capita is five times higher than in Romania), sees imports covering some 60% of the demand,” Adriana Apostolache, economic manager of Cesarom Bucharest, one of the main ceramic tiles and sanitary ware makers on the Romanian market, told Ziarul Financiar. ZF