Confindustria Ceramica's newly elected Chairman Franco Manfredini revealed that although the companies are succeeding in maintaining their market shares, the financial crisis is causing significant losses for the Italian ceramic industry. During the first three months of 2009, tile production fell by almost 30% and turnover by around 23% compared to the same period of the previous year. These figures are certainly alarming, but they must be interpreted in the light of the particularly strong performance in the reference quarter in 2008. Indeed, the association is expecting to end 2009 with smaller losses than in the first quarter. One of the positive elements of these first few months of the year is the value of investments made by companies in technological innovations and in optimising their production processes, which have already reached EUR 278 million. This is a significant figure considering that the corresponding value for the whole of 2008 was EUR 304 million (up by 0.45% on 2007). New aspects under study are all aspects of eco-sustainable production, new areas of application of tiles, a special focus on urban design, ever thinner sizes and functionalised surfaces.
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