On December 3, 2019, Mr. Zhou Zhizhou, Vice Chairman of the Building Materials Industry Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and his delegation met with Mr. Suarez, the Economic and Commercial Counselor of Brazil in China, at the Brazilian Embassy in China. The two sides discussed the issues between China and Brazil. They exchanged views on the market conditions of construction and building materials and other fields, and discussed upcoming cooperation in the future.
Mr. Suarez pointed out that Brazil is the largest country in South America and the third largest country in ceramic production in the world. It is also the central market of South American countries and has strong radiation capabilities and industrial leadership for neighboring countries and regions. In the past few years, the Brazilian construction market has accounted for nearly half of the Latin American market. The Brazilian construction industry has been growing at an annual rate of 20%. The export volume of ceramic products has also gradually increased. The ceramic industry is also facing the challenges of intelligence, greenness, The requirements for environmental protection transformation and upgrading have continued to demand advanced ceramic manufacturing equipment.
Data show that Brazil's ceramic tile output was 793 million square meters in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 0.4%. Ceramic tile consumption was 702 million square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 0.8%. Its ceramic tile export volume recovered from 90.4 million square meters to 105 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 11.2%; the export value reached 368 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 7%. Almost all Brazilian ceramic tile exports are sold to the Latin American market, with the United States being its second largest export market. In 2018, the United States imported 15.8 million square meters of ceramic tiles from Brazil, a year-on-year increase of 39.3%. In terms of imports, Brazil imported nearly $50 million in ceramic products from China in 2018.
China is the number one import source of Brazilian ceramic products
Mr. Suarez believes that China is not only the world's largest producer of building materials and ceramics, but also a major consumer. It is necessary to strengthen economic and trade cooperation and exchanges between the two countries in the field of building materials and learn from each other's development experience. He hopes that the Building Materials Council will promote building materials between the two countries. play a role in economic and trade cooperation.
The export volume of Brazilian ceramic products has increased year by year in the past five years
The import volume of Brazilian ceramic products has been decreasing year by year in the past five years
Vice Chairman Zhou pointed out that after years of development, China's building materials industry has reached or exceeded the world's advanced level in terms of production equipment and product quality. China and Pakistan are both developing countries, and there is great room for growth in infrastructure and housing construction, which provides many opportunities for cooperation in the field of building materials between the two countries. Vice President Zhou introduced China’s technologies and products in cement, glass, ceramics, stone, wall materials and other fields to Mr. Suarez. Mr. Suarez expressed that he was very happy to hear the latest information from Chinese professional institutions. He He expressed that he would recommend relevant information and the business of the Building Materials Council for the Promotion of International Trade to relevant institutions in Brazil, and hoped that the building materials fields of the two countries could work together to achieve win-win cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit by strengthening economic, trade and technical exchanges.
As major ceramic countries, China and Pakistan have broad prospects for cooperation. Vice President Zhou specially introduced to Mr. Suarez the 34th Ceramic Industry Exhibition to be held in Guangzhou from May 26 to 29, 2020. Mr. Suarez believed that this international exhibition platform is very important to ceramic practitioners , he said that he would provide relevant information to relevant Brazilian business associations and relevant ceramic companies, actively promote the 34th Ceramic Industry Exhibition in Brazil, encourage Brazilian companies to actively come to China to participate in the exhibition, visit and purchase the latest equipment, so that more Brazilian companies Communicate with ceramic people from all over the world at the Guangzhou Ceramic Industry Exhibition to promote cooperation between the Brazilian ceramic industry and the world.
At the same time, Mr. Suarez said that after the meeting, he would convey relevant investment information and market information about Brazil to the Council for the Promotion of International Trade in Building Materials. He hoped that the Council for the Promotion of International Trade in Building Materials would organize Chinese companies to visit Brazil, invest in Brazil, and expand the market. Vice President Zhou accepted the invitation and expressed that he was very happy to have the opportunity to lead Chinese companies to visit Brazil in the future to promote cooperation in the building materials field between the two countries.
