Ceramic Industry is one of the oldest
industries in the world. Due to the
abundance of raw material, namely
soil and ease of production, ceramic
objects are one of the oldest and most
ancient signs of the early man ever
found. As far as archeological findings
and excavations are considered, Iran is
the primary birthplace of this industry.
And it was from Iran that the industry
expanded to other parts of the globe.
The first ever-excavated ceramic objects
belonging to 10 to 12 thousand years ago
were explored in Zagros mountain range
in Iran. They were made manually using
neither a clay wheel nor an oven for
baking the clay. The discovered items in
Silk Hills in Kashan (belonging to 8,000
year B.C.) and the discovered items in
Susa (belonging to 2,700 B.C.) are
indicative of the acquaintance and
knowledge of their residents with an
oven to bake the clay. During a
developing trend Iran's ceramics
flourished more to reach a turning point
during Safavid's era. Exceptional and
marvelous items were created in that
era. Decorating historical monuments and
buildings inclusive of mosques in
Isfahan and other Iranian towns. The
production of tiles suffered stagnation
after the Safavad's era giving way to
imported European china.
The industry
suffered stagnation even further until
1960. Before then tiles were produced
manually. Then
Irana tile factory, the first
manufacturer of tiles, was inaugurated.
This was a turning point. Later Sa'di,
Hafiz and Isfahan factories followed the
suit. Later a few china factories were
inaugurated to manufacture china- ware
and sanitary ware. Unfortunately the
activity of all factories was halted
after the 1979 Revolution and during the
Imposed War. But later during the First
and Second Five Year Economic
Development Plans (FYEDP) activities
were restored and during the Second
FYEDP the total production in the
industry witnessed a 12.6% increase on
the average. During 1999 the production
of tiles exceeded 61 million sq. m and
ceramics in general 82,000 tons. Over
22,000 workers were working in this
industry. Three outstanding factors are
responsible for the flourishing of the
prosperous tile manufacturing business
in Iran: one is abundance of soil as the
raw material; the second is inexpensive
energy sources and the third one cheap
labor and high unemployment rate (there
are plenty job applicants available).
The products of this industry are
divided into four categories: Tiles,
sanitary ware, chinaware and industrial
ceramics. The objective of this report
is to study such classification.
Wall and Floor
Tile:
Tile industry is
ten thousand years old. Tiles used to be
manually produced in small workshops
before 1960.
Then Irana tile factory was inaugurated.
This was a turning point. Later Sa'di,
Hafiz and Isfahan factories became
operational to boost the production
volume of machine made tiles. The above
5 factories were producers of wall tiles
before the Revolution.
But Nilu, Yazd, Alborz and Gilan
factories were making floor tiles.
Establishment of new factories after the
Revolution brought their number to 16
units in 1994, with a total capacity of
37.3 million square meters in the same
year. As the production volume boosted
gradually, the number of production
units was brought to 30 in 1999 with an
annual capacity of 67.1 million sq. m.
15 units of which were allotted to
production of wall tiles with 47.4
million sq. m. capacity, while the
remaining 15 units were producers of
floor tiles with 19.7 million sq. m.
capacity. Such figures were indicative
of 87.5% and 89.8% boost in number and
capacity respectively compared to five
years earlier. The production volume of
tile manufacturers reached 60.9 million
sq. m in the year 1999, indicating 8.7%
growth compared to a year earlier and
65% growth compared to five years before
that. The total number of the staff in
the aforementioned production units
equaled 14,000 people in that year (with
4,350 sq. m. per capita) and 91% output
as the nominal production capacity. Such
output fluctuated between 90% and 100%
during the said Five Year Plans.
The total volume of tiles produced in
the world amounted to nearly 4,764
million sq. m. in the year 1999
(2,200 million sq. m. in Asia and 1,430
million sq. m. in the European Union),
while 1.2% of the said sum (figure) was
produced in Iran, making us the 15th
country in the world in this regard. The
total global per capita consumption in
the same year equaled to 0.7, while in
Iran it was 0.8. The domestic sale
volume of tile was 55.4 million sq. m.
during 1999, totaling 1,385 billion
rials, indicating a 72% increase in
weight and 424.5% in value compared to
five years earlier. Due to the
commissioning of several factories, a
remarkable growth has been witnessed in
the Iranian tile industry during the
recent years. Using the new technology
and a notable diversification in plans
and production a drastic change abruptly
improved the tile industry. Not only the
domestic requirements were met by such a
boost in production volume, but also the
way was favorably paved for tile export.
Over 5.5 million sq. m. of tiles
amounting to US $16.3 million were
exported in 1999, indicating a decline
of %8.3 and %6.8 respectively compared
to a year earlier. The decline was
mainly caused by global depression and
stagnation as well as an international
price fall. During this year 9% of the
total Iranian exports belonged to tiles.
Iranian tiles have been mostly exported
to Canada, Central Asia, and the Persian
Gulf states, Africa as well as Britain,
Germany, Italy, France and Denmark.
soil and ease of production, ceramic
objects are one of the oldest and most
ancient signs of the early man ever
found. As far as archeological findings
and excavations are considered, Iran is
the primary birthplace of this industry.
And it was from Iran that the industry
expanded to other parts of the globe.
The first ever-excavated ceramic objects
belonging to 10 to 12 thousand years ago
were explored in Zagros mountain range
in Iran. They were made manually using
neither a clay wheel nor an oven for
baking the clay. The discovered items in
Silk Hills in Kashan (belonging to 8,000
year B.C.) and the discovered items in
Susa (belonging to 2,700 B.C.) are
indicative of the acquaintance and
knowledge of their residents with an
oven to bake the clay. During a
developing trend Iran's ceramics
flourished more to reach a turning point
during Safavid's era. Exceptional and
marvelous items were created in that
era. Decorating historical monuments and
buildings inclusive of mosques in
Isfahan and other Iranian towns. The
production of tiles suffered stagnation
after the Safavad's era giving way to
imported European china.
