How does the purchase of Pamesa from Azuliber influence the tile sector?

At the end of 2021, Pamesa acquired all of Grupo Azuliber. It was neither the first nor the last. And many more to come.

Gupo Pamesa is the second largest ceramic product in the world. In a sector with a lot of competition and with emerging countries tightening with very aggressive prices.

The monopoly is the business model par excellence. It has been so for a long time in many sectors, and it is becoming clear that it will also be so in the tile market.

To give a few examples; in the home decoration sector there is Ikea, in sports, Decathlon. In food, there are already few retail markets, absorbed by brands such as Carrefour, Lidel, Mercadona. In electronics... Mediamarkt.

And in ceramics, Grupo Pamesa.

At a macro level, this is surely good news for Spain. A brand with power in the sector worldwide.

Although for the consumer we believe that it is not so positive.

The difference between the acquisition of Azuliber and that of other factories of tiles, is that Azuliber was a group with a lot of potential, which has been growing in recent years with the acquisition of small tile factories.

How could the purchase of Azuliber by Pamesa influence?

On the one hand, few companies were as reliable as Azuliber in the availability of materials and delivery times.

It was a factory that ran like clockwork. Unlike Pamesa, which with the volume of production and the number of sub-brands and customers to supply, its reliability leaves much to be desired in this regard.

Azuliber had a type of product, of high quality by the way, very different from what we find in most tile catalogues. With a wide variety of outdoor rustic porcelain tiles. A type of product that still retains its market.

Although Pamesa has relocated some of its porcelain models to a new brand, it is not unreasonable to think that in the future they will use these resources to supply their strongest brands and having a greater volume of stock in the most commercial models.

From our point of view, the fact that a single company takes over a sector is almost never positive.

A few years ago it was interesting to be part of the group, telling   at least with one of its brands. They have always been competitive brands in price.

However, now it is essential, and no longer interesting. And the fact is that if you don't work with at least one of the group's brands, you will have a lack of models in your store.

It is no longer easy to maintain a varied portfolio of products without going through Pamesa, and more difficult it will be in the very, very near future.

When someone has almost the entire domain, they have the power to impose their conditions, with little room for maneuver for others.

The Group It is present in more than 150 countries, and its brands are: Pamesa, Navarti, Prissmacer, Geotiles, Ecoceramic and Tau.

Recently, with the purchase of the former Azuliber, the Mythage brand has been created.< /p>