DAG DE GAS....PUSH, GO FASTER....

' DAG THE GAS' means in our local dialect?( from Sassuolo to Imola and Faenza)

'PUSH, GO FASTER' with the motorcycle throttle grip,

due to our passion with fast bikes ( and cars)

So....

Once again, we cannot ignore taking a look beyond the Tyrrhenian Sea.?

And we do it at a time of general bonanza for the national ceramic industry, which will mark a 'plus' worthy of some of the 90s and first decade of 2000 pre credit crunch.

So, for Spain and azulejos, 2020 'full stomach, happy heart', 2021 'my stomach, have a hut' .... and 2022 ????

'DAG DE GAS', that is 'PUSH, PUSH, FASTER AND FASTER'.would say Valentino Rossi, now a former 'Doctor'. And for more than one reason. Let's see which ones.

?The investment program that is adding tens and tens of millions of square meters of glazed porcelain in 'Italian' formats is being completed. Next year, after breaking all records, given that Q2 2021, or H1 2021 if you prefer, sees Spanish exports already at 1800 million Euros, + 35%, what can they do?

Not a day goes by that Pamesa does not rattle off its increasingly triumphal figures, at + 45% in the first quarter, now it updates the second quarter Q2 2021 with a resounding + 65%.

But NOT starting from zero or almost, but starting from almost 100 million square meters of sales.

In short, Pamesa overwhelms everyone in quantity, while records are being beaten in the USA and France, the two countries that are head to head in the rankings, ahead of the United Kingdom (where they destroy Italians) while even in Germany, drafts are beginning to be felt. hot from Meseta never arrived in the era of red body.

Until this year, never in its history had the sector sold so many tiles outside Spain that it exceeded 300 million euros in a single month.?

And in 2021 it has already exceeded this figure three times: in March (329.5 million), May (315) and June (341), while in April it remained just below (295).

The H1 of exports of ceramic Spain is very positive (the top 10 countries, which are not exactly ours, but 6 out of 10 yes, they are the same.

This is the case, for example, of France and the United States, which grew by 41.5% and 33.9% and where sales were already very high last year.

But also in the United Kingdom (+ 53%), Italy (+ 50%), Morocco (+ 80%, after having dropped a lot in the first half of last year due to the closure of the country due to the coronavirus) and Israel (+ 51 %).

It is worth noting that Italy, I dare to say almost incredibly, is the FIFTH export country for Spain.

Meanwhile, on the wave of a resounding +50% from Spanish guys, on 4 September, Porcelanosa opens a sensational showroom in the Castello Sforzesco area, in the chic district for architects in Milan, where there are already flagship stores of Italian brands: 600 square meters divided into two main rooms, with products from 8 different companies that make up the 'total concept' that distinguishes them, with a selection of the latest trends in ceramic floor and wall tiles, but also of natural materials selected ad hoc, kitchens, bathrooms, as well as construction solutions, both for individuals and professionals in the field of architecture and interior design.

From design to purchase, integrated and vertical.

950 tiendas are now open, direct and in partnership, in over 150 countries. No Italian has dared to do so up to now and we do not believe anyone will do so anymore, even if the 'Iperceramica' RETAIL success has shown that there was also a space here in Italy, but.... it obviously had to be sought and built.

Therefore, it is NOT true that you are not attacked only on prices .

Spanish exports to the USA are confirmed at stable if not decreasing prices, ex works of course, because the core of their price of containers is similar to our one, despite the system port that they have a stone's throw from the factories, and therefore - paradoxically- their impact on the door-to-door price is also higher in percentage, but, on the other hand, with the same transport cost, the Spanish product ... is far cheaper and therefore allows the importer, if he switches, to recover with respect to the Italian price.

While we read messages and proclamations in the newspapers in the style of 'wanted-to-buy company or factory', in Spain something happens that we only see in finance field , a general manager (azuliber) has just been fired for having almost concluded a negotiation for the sale of the group he works for, only to be ... hired back again, after the partners have changed their mind (but they did not say yes, you did well, the buyer takes it back!) . Better for him, a nice payout, and then.... back to work, with the same chair.

So, net of Pamesa-takes-it-all and fanta-finance, last year, and only for a few weeks, production costs in fact bounced up a little, due to the lesser exploitation of the plants due to the acute phase of the various lockdowns, total and partial , now we go to bomb, THE GAS indeed. Gas is an Adam&Eve leaf, a pretext, a sum of things.

There is no doubt that, as everyone knows, both gas prices have risen (which, however, during the lockdown had collapsed to historic lows, 6 Euro / MWh, equal to not even 10 cents per cubic meter) and that this has affected those who were waiting to continue. drops down to zero, and you are not hedged with fixed contracts, a bit like what happens when interest rates fall, and you continue to prefer the variable that goes down, goes down until it falls, while the fixed cannot go to zero, but protects against inevitable future rebounds.?

Those who have done so, with the sector's dependence on gas given the power of the centralized atomization system in a few large hubs and large thermoelectric cogeneration plants, have hit the mark.?

Who does not ... has taken increases of up to 15% per month in the teeth and we are now exponential at double.

However, speculations on CO2 emissions titles, the infamous ETS, are also starting to be heard, complaining all the ceramic entrepreneurs of Castellón, even those who have been earning money like never before for 15 years,?the strong manufacturing pace of the last few months is also conditioned by progressively higher costs, which are reducing margins and force production to the maximum to keep companies at the limit of productivity and profitability.

So.... the increase in the prices of energy, raw materials, packaging such as pallets and cardboard, emission rights and sea freight rates -?which are now also reflected in the raw materials that we ourselves import from the East by ship, that is, Turkish feldspar and Ukrainian clay - are threatening most of the companies, which are experiencing a moment of uncertainty that is already prolonged and accentuated over time.

The potential impact of these costs is currently, for medium range products, about 50-60 cents per square meter, which in Italy means 5-8 percent on the cost of production, and which is negotiated in these periods, both on intercompany prices?-?good payers?maybe snatch a small increase of 2-3%, symbolic but in turnaround after years, while those who are less good get all the increase as risk premium with the classic 'take it or leave it'.

In Spain it is much more sensitive, and therefore the impact on the final price is likely to well exceed 10 per cent, with all the fear of being Chineseized, that is, replaced by price-sensitive importers, with Turks (who are also doing dizzying increases in 3-4 huge companies) or with Brazil and South Americans.

Well ... Italians and Spaniards have in fact allied themselves against a system that punishes the two European manufacturing poles (until proven otherwise, Turkey is economically and politically still Asia, even if it is in fact a Mediterranean producer, as are some North African big players. ).

Together they note in the European Commission that ... 'the cost of gas is a problem shared by Italians and Spaniards, who have seen how in a few months its price has doubled, as well as an increase in the prices of CO2 emissions, determined by the emission European trading ETS, which ten months ago was 15 euros per tonne and is now above 55 euros, largely due to financial speculation '. It is expected to go to 65.

For companies in the sector and the organizations that represent them, this is a "dangerous situation because it undermines the competitiveness of a sector that has always been strongly committed to protecting the environment and which has dedicated a significant part of its investments to reducing energy consumption and environmental impact with tangible results "

?Italy says that .. 'to maintain international competitiveness, it is essential that our companies are not penalized by the costs of the Emission Trading Directive, which bring benefits only to financial speculation.

?Equally important at this stage is that our sector is included in the list provided by the ETS directive itself of the sectors eligible for compensation of indirect costs, from which it was unjustly excluded by the EU Commission '.

Spain is increasing: 'It is good to remember that all imports of ceramics produced outside the European Union are not subject to an ETS system with consequent improper competitive advantage.?

In a logic of reciprocity, it would be useful for non-EU exports of European ceramics not to count the cost of the ETS. The ETS system must consider the current economic situation, coming to be reduced or suspended if companies find themselves in a situation of extraordinary difficulty. It is also necessary that decarbonization takes place in the right time, taking into account the level of maturity of the available technologies because if it cannot be further improved, ETS becomes a tax on production factors'.?

In fact, it is otherwise impossible to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 55% compared to 1990 levels by 2030. This is a race, indeed an electric car-like psychosis.

We ARE NOT READY.?Eco sustainable here and there, but we grind, atomize, press, fire, and melt frits for glazes. And we fire at 1200 degrees, albeit with very fast cycles and ovens as large as aircraft carriers.

The rest is bullshit.

However, the Spaniards rode their Recovery Plan very well, throwing forward an incredible number of projects for the partial passage of the ovens to the use of hydrogen mixed with methane, given that at the moment it is technically and economically impossible to 'combustion' only with hydrogen. These crafty swindlers, with simpler factories, propose to offset the payment of the so-called 'investment rights' that Brussels demands to achieve the decarbonisation objectives.

With this "at least 50% of this amount [of the rights] would be used, if not all, for purposes related to energy and climate change".?

In this way, Member States "would help promote the decarbonisation of businesses through direct incentives, offering a mechanism to improve the liquidity" of businesses, notes the trade association.?

And with this, another type of sustainability would be gained: economic, fundamental also for a sector threatened by the great challenges that arise in the medium term in the energy sector ”.

Therefore in Castellon not only regional and state tax discounts are being asked, but it is all a flourishing of experimental projects to pay for upgrades in the factory (here it was done with machinery hyper-amortization, here it will be with European funds) with the excuse of using a little of Hydrogen. And they're great at lobbying.

Otherwise, between the price of methane and the ETS, up to 20% of the sector's profit could literally go up in smoke.

So....DAG DE GAS.....

PUSH, PUSH... KEEP GOING FASTER....