Ceramics Industry
CURRENT SITUATION OF HOUSING STOCK IN SPAIN

Corporate
BERALMAR AT THE GENERAL MEETING AND TECHNICAL SEMINARS OF HISPALYT

News and Accomplishments
PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE NEXE GROUP

As we all know, construction in Spain reached astronomical figures in the 2000s with almost 700,000 homes being built a year, until it came to an almost crashing halt in 2007. The downturn was so sudden that it couldn’t prevent an accumulation of stock of more than half a million new homes in 2008, reaching a maximum of 650,000 homes in 2009.

Cranes have once again become part of the skyline in Spain after years of very little activity.

This stock was the major reason why there was little construction activity during the crisis years. The following graph shows how in recent years the market has been absorbing this stock very slowly, to the point that it has taken a decade to return to 2007 levels with more than 400,000 new homes for sale, a figure still too high to consider the construction sector crisis over:

Although the evolution of the stock of new housing is good, it is still a significant impediment to construction activity, though it is improving every year.

Currently, the stock of new homes constitutes 1.79% of the total housing stock in Spain of 25.7 million homes, of which 75% are primary residences.

Galicia has been the nerve centre of the ceramics industry over the last few weeks. In May the ECTS meeting was held in Sanxenxo, and then on 13, 14 and 15 June the General Meeting and technical seminars of HISPALYT (Spanish Association of Brick and Clay Tile Manufacturers) were held in La Toja.

BERALMAR was present and by Rafael Andrés, the BERALMAR sales manager for Spain, gave a presentation entitled "Production of ceramic materials with biomass in the drying and firing processes”.

In his presentation, Rafael explained the economic and environmental advantages of using biomass in the drying and firing processes, in which BERALMAR has proven experience.

The latest data on the construction of housing in Spain was presented during the event, which was attended by more than 80 people. According to the Spanish government, the number of new homes (new builds) started in 2018 was 100,733, 25% more than in 2017 (80,786). In 2017, this number grew by 26% compared to 2016 (64,038). So for five consecutive years now the number of new homes (new builds) has grown compared to the previous year.

Numbers that, despite still being far below those prior to the construction crisis in Spain, represent a very clear and sustained upward trend in the sector.

We’ll be back at the General Meeting in 2020 and we hope with even better news for the sector.

Cover of the BERALMAR presentation

Rafael Andrés, BERALMAR sales manager for Spain, during his presentation.

Photo of the Hispalyt General Meeting (photo: Hispalyt).

BERALMAR has recently carried out improvement projects in two factories of the NEXE group. With a total of 11 tunnel kilns distributed around Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia, for the manufacture of blocks and tiles, the NEXE group is the most important manufacturer in the Balkan region and a customer to whom BERALMAR has supplied different combustion solutions.

In recent months BERALMAR has successfully carried out the following production improvements at the TOS (Sarajevo, Bosnia) and IGM STRAŽILOVO (Sremski Karlovci, Serbia) factories:
 

TOS (Bosnia)

Modification and equipping of the kiln to achieve:

• An increase in kiln production to 400 tonnes/day.
• An increase in quality (decrease in rejection).

• An increase in dryer production to 280tonnes/day.
• An increase in drying quality.

Location of the two plants in the Balkans.

Examples of formats produced in these two plants.