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Hi, I’m K. Schipper with the latest in hard surfaces industry news from Radio Stone Update
0:29
Cosentino Group is a step closer this week to eventually locating a U.S. manufacturing facility in Florida.
A budget-advisory committee in Jacksonville voted 6-0 on Monday to approve selling 330 acres of city land to the Spanish surfaces company for approximately 20.5 million dollars. According to the Jacksonville Daily News, the land would be used to build a production plant with an initial estimated investment of $270 million.
The Daily News reported that Cosentino has worked with the city since last fall concerning the proposed facility, to be located 20 miles east of the port of Jacksonville. The site is just off Interstate 10 and would also be served by a proposed railroad line extension.
The first filings apparently noted the company under the alias of Raptor Stone, since Florida law allows for concealing the identity of companies in the initial states of economic development. A filing late last week for the rail-spur included Cosentino and allowed the Daily News to match the company with Raptor Stone.
The proposed facility, valued at $440 million would be built in two phases. The initial $270 million phase would include a 408-thousand square-foot facility, with another 734 thousand square feet for support areas and two production lines. A stormwater-management permit issued last month to Raptor Stone indicated the facility would employ 180 people, according to the Daily News.
The Jacksonville Business Journal reported last September that Jacksonville was one of three cities being considered by Cosentino for the plant, which would manufacture Silestone HybriQ® quartz surfaces. The factory would open in 2026.
At that time, the company stated that the decision would be based on the ability to acquire land and other economic incentives.
The Daily News noted that the land sale would also include a 50-percent, ten-year enhanced value grant capped at $12 million, and a $5.5 million transportation grant from the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund.
The proposal now does to the Jacksonville City Council for final approval.
2:51
With the U.S. residential sector slowed by rising mortgage rates and inflation, supply issues, and labor shortages, the U.S. ceramic tile market experienced the same slight downturn in sales as other hard-surface products last year.
The Anderson, S.C.-based Tile Council of North America – the TCNA – reports that total ceramic tile consumption in 2022 was 3.07 billion square feet, down 1.3 percent from 2021, when 3.11 billion square feet were sold. Still, that number remains ahead of sales for 2019 and 2020 when the total number fell below 3 billion square feet.
Spain remained the largest exporter of ceramic tile to the U.S. in 2022. Despite its exports falling by 12.8 percent in volume from 2021, Spain still represents a 19.8 percent share of total U.S. imports by volume, off 2.4 percent from 2021. Italy was the second largest exporter to the U.S. in 2022 by volume, comprising 17.3 percent of the U.S. import market.
Mexico was the third largest exporter to the U.S., with a 16.6 percent share. India and Turkey rounded out the top five, with India showing its all-time highest position at fourth, with 13 percent of U.S. volume. Turkey’s numbers were down by 1.2 percent from 2012, but still showed a 12.3 percent of the U.S. market. Both Turkey and India have reported impressive increases in volume since 2018.
And, while total shipments to this country were down last year, the total U.S. value of those products increased by 17.5 percent to just under $3 billion. Receiving the most for its tile – at $2.36 a square foot – was Italy.
Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturers shipped just under 900 million square feet of ceramic tile domestically last year, a 1 percent increase from 2021. U.S. shipments represented 28.9 percent of the total tile market last year, for a value of $1.48 billion. The per unit value of domestic shipments was $1.66 per square foot, up 12 cents a square foot from 2021, but putting it behind both Italy and Spain in per square foot value.
Looking at U.S. ceramic tile exports – only slightly more than 5.5 percent of the total market – it saw an increase of 33.6 percent, so 50.8 million square feet. The recipients of almost 90 percent of those tiles were Canada and Mexico, with 70.5 percent going to Canada.
Total new home starts declined for the first time since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2009. However, the 1.56 million units started in 2022 were the second highest since 2007.
7:26
In other news from the TCNA, Bill Griese has been named as the new deputy executive director. Griese has been with the industry group for 18 years in a variety of roles.
TCNA Executive Director Eric Astrachan noted that Griese has developed technical acuity, leadership and diplomatic acumen. Griese began with TCNA as a student laboratory engineer during his undergraduate days at nearby Clemson University. After receiving his degree in ceramic and materials engineering, he worked with the association on standards and sustainability issues.
He’s served as the organization’s director of standard development and sustainability initiatives since 2015, and has also served on the board of directors of ASTM International since 2018. He became that group’s vice chair early last year.
Griese also formed TCNA’s Green Initiative and spearheaded efforts to develop Green Squared, the world’s first multi-attribute sustainability standard for ceramic tiles and installation materials. In his new job, Griese will have an expanded role in overseeing operations and representing TCNA in internal and external industry matters.
TCNA is a trade association representing manufacturers of ceramic tile, tile installation materials, tile equipment, raw materials, and other tile-related products.
8:57
Countertop and cabinet fabricator Sims-Lohman recently named Joe Kline as president and Jason Sigl as chief financial officer. The announcements were made by John Beiersdorfer, Sims-Lohman CEO.
Kline joins Sims-Lohman from Baldwin Technology Co., where he served as president and CEO. He’s also a former president of Eaton Corp. Sigl joins Cincinnati-based Sims-Lohman from CFO roles with Sullivan, Inc., and Furniture Mart USA, Inc.
The company has also added Mark Hausfeld as vice president of finance. Sims-Lohman is one of the largest distributors of cabinetry and countertops in the U.S. It supplies more than 25,000 kitchens and fabricates more than 50,000 countertops annually to industry professionals and their clients.
9:54
Addison, Ill.-based Fifth Gear Technologies has acquired laser-templating company ETemplate Systems. Fifth Gear is a leading provider of software solutions for the countertop industry, while ETemplate is known for its precision in measurement and design processes for the countertop, cabinet, and millwork industries.
The acquisition is seen as a strategic move for Fifth Gear Technologies, allowing that company to expand its portfolio of innovative software solutions and strengthen its position in the market. Fifth Grear partner Steve Mast said the entire ETemplate team will be retained.
Said Mast, “Their expertise in developing best-in-class laser measuring products, teamed up with Fifth Gear’s expertise in building innovative customer-focused software, will result in exciting new solutions for our customers and the industries we serve.”
ETemplate’s products will now be integrated into Fifth Gear Technolgies’ existing suite of products and software solutions, which include SPEEDlabel and SPEEDdraw. The acquisition will also allow Fifth Gear to expand its market reach and offer its solutions to a broader range of businesses.
In other news around the industry….
11:14
Cosentino’s Silestone surfaces are now available for viewing and distribution in all EUROPEAN and MARVA gallerias of Trajus Surfaces. Silestone will be offered at Trajus facilities in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
Jonathan Dawson, east regional director at Cosentino, says the company is thrilled for Silestone to be expanded into all Trajus Surfaces brand locations, while Mario Persico, Trajus Surfaces president and CCO, is quote “delighted” unquote in response to the addition of Silestone to its family of world-class brands.
12:07
The National Tile Contractors Association – the NTCA – will offer nine workshops in the southeast on gauged porcelain tile, panels, and slabs. Between May 4 and June 3, the group will hold six sessions sessions in Florida, two in Georgia and one in Alabama.
Those attending will learn the tile industry GPTP/Slab standards with a focus on new standards and methods for installing GPTP. The sessions will also cover how GPTP is made, where it can be used and the special tools, setting materials and techniques required to install it.
Before the end of June, there’ll also be a GPTP workshop in Wisconsin. (Editor’s note after broadcast: The Wisconsin workshop has been cancelled.)
To register for any of the sessions, go to www.tile-assn.com/events/EventDetails
13:04
And, the International Surface Fabricators Association – the ISFA – is sponsoring a trip to Italy beginning April 30 that will allow attendees to visit some of that country’s top suppliers to the industry. Stops will include Lapitec, Breton, Antolini, Luigi, and Infinity Surfaces. Stone Update publisher and editor Emerson Schwartzkopf and I will be among those attending, and we look forward to providing you with a report upon our return.
13:37
Remember, the latest issue of Hard Surface Report is now available at www.hardsurfacereport.com. Our newsletter, Slab & Sheet, comes out on alternate Wednesdays. For a transcript of this broadcast, go to www.radiostoneupdate.com.
For Radio Stone Update, I’m K. Schipper, and we’ll see you here again soon.
