In 2024, China's sanitary ware industry accelerated its transformation and restructuring amid multiple trends. 

The “trade-in policy” drove the recovery of domestic demand, emerging as a new consumption engine and stimulating consumption vitality in the stock market. The implementation of quality classification for smart toilets and the improvement of the quality classification standard system for sanitary products continued to promote the standardized operation of the industry. Policy measures such as the mandatory CCC certification for smart toilets and the promotion catalog for elderly products also exerted a profound impact on product development and market structure, providing directions for the industry's intelligent, green, safe, and sustainable development.

On the production side, industrial investment remained vigorous. Leading enterprises increased investment, accelerated expansion and upgrading, and promoted the development of intelligent manufacturing and industrial clusters. The pace of overseas expansion was comprehensively accelerated to avoid trade risks and build localized operation capabilities.

The popularization of intelligent sanitary ware continued to advance, becoming a major direction of product innovation. Demand for elderly care and health services was released, and the system of elderly-friendly products gradually took shape.

With the rise of the "one-stop" consumption model, the trend of cross-industry integration and competition became prominent. Centering on the whole bathroom delivery, leading enterprises accelerated both horizontal product category expansion and vertical service extension, reshaping the industry's development pattern. 

 In 2024, China's sanitary ceramics output reached 181 million pieces, a slight year-on-year decrease of 2.69%. In recent years, despite the impact of the downward real estate market, the overall output of sanitary ceramics has shown a declining trend, but the overall market demand has remained resilient, with output stabilizing between 180 million and 190 million pieces in the past three years. 

 In 2024, the number of above-scale sanitary ceramics enterprises in China stood at 397, an increase of 34 compared with 2023. The operating income of enterprises increased slightly, but total profits and profit margins declined slightly, leaving the industry as a whole facing the challenge of **revenue growth without corresponding profit growth. At the same time, the number of loss-making enterprises increased, the scope of losses expanded, the amount of losses rose, and operational pressure intensified.

For above-scale enterprises in the plumbing pipe and building metal decorative materials industry, their operating income increased slightly, but profitability declined. Compared with building and sanitary ceramics enterprises, the plumbing pipe and building metal decorative materials enterprises saw a narrowed scope of losses and a reduced number of loss-making enterprises, but the total loss amount increased. Both enterprise liabilities and inventory value rose.

In 2024, the regional pattern of China's sanitary ceramics industry showed a significant differentiation trend, with leading regional agglomeration and structural reorganization advancing simultaneously. Relying on its mature industrial chain and industrial cluster advantages, Guangdong Province maintained a high output growth rate of over 20%, further consolidating its absolute leading position. As a representative northern sanitary ceramics production base, Hebei Province achieved an output growth rate of nearly 40%, becoming an important national growth driver. Henan Province, a traditional major production area, suffered an output decline of over 50% due to upgraded environmental protection requirements and lagging transformation, highlighting the pressure of industrial upgrading. Hubei Province saw a significant contraction in production capacity due to intensified environmental rectification, accelerating regional reshuffling. Overall, industrial resources are accelerating their concentration in leading regions with flexible policies and complete industrial chains. Higher environmental standards and intensified regional competition have forced traditional production areas to pursue green transformation, and the “Matthew Effect” in the industry has continued to strengthen.

In 2024, China's sanitary ceramics export volume reached 110 million pieces, reversing the trend with a year-on-year growth of 15.04%. The export volume accounted for over 60% of the total output, reaching a historical high, indicating an increase in the industry's dependence on foreign markets. Quarterly data showed that the export volume of sanitary ceramics in the fourth quarter of 2024 grew significantly year-on-year, which may be related to the advance shipment triggered by the reduction of export tax rebates for some non-metallic mineral products including tiles and sanitary ceramics. The average export unit price of sanitary ceramics dropped from USD 64.85 per piece to USD 46.34 per piece, hitting a 10-year low. The export value fell from USD 6.221 billion to USD 5.113 billion, a decrease of 17.80%. This change indicates that the **strategy of compensating for price declines with increased volume** maintained the total market scale, but profit margins were severely compressed. Compared with the peak in 2021, the 2024 export value has shrunk by 48.2%, and the cumulative decline in unit price has reached 48.5%, highlighting the loss of high-end markets and structural dilemmas. 

In 2024, China's total export value of sanitary ware reached USD 15.637 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 4.69%, showing a trend of "increasing volume while decreasing price". From 2019 to 2024, export volume continued to grow, but export unit prices generally declined, leading to intensified market competition and compressed profit margins. The export volume of products such as shower enclosures and faucets increased significantly, but the high-end market was lost, and low-price competition became a major challenge. China's sanitary ware exports are mainly directed to markets such as the United States and Southeast Asia, with shower enclosures, faucets and other products concentrated in Hong Kong (China), the United States, Indonesia and other regions. Export provinces are highly concentrated in production areas such as Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian. In particular, Guangdong Province dominates the export of shower enclosures and faucets. 

In recent years, Chinese sanitary ware enterprises have shown a strong growth momentum in overseas investment, with production capacity layout focusing on emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and Africa. On one hand, this helps avoid trade risks brought by anti-dumping policies; on the other hand, it enables more efficient expansion of local markets through localized production and operation. At the same time, for mature markets in Europe and the United States, enterprises mostly adopt models such as brand acquisition or establishment of sales companies to avoid trade barriers and enhance brand premium capabilities. It is worth noting that against the background of intensified international market competition, leading global brands are accelerating merger and acquisition expansion, further promoting industry integration and forcing Chinese sanitary ware enterprises to speed up their global layout and high-end transformation.

 In 2023, global sanitary ceramics trade declined significantly under the impact of shrinking demand, with total exports reaching 3.45 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 5.8%. Asia, as the largest export region, accounted for 67.6% of global exports, but its export volume decreased by 4.5% to 2.33 million tons. Among them, the decline in China's exports was the decisive factor for the overall decrease in Asia's exports. India's exports grew against the trend (5.5%), becoming a regional highlight. The EU's export volume decreased by 16.6% to 433,000 tons, accounting for 12.6%, with Poland, Germany and Portugal all declining by approximately 16%. The North American Free Trade Area became the only growing region, with an 18.4% increase; Mexico's exports grew by 20% to 302,000 tons, focusing on the U.S. market. Other regions such as Turkey and South America saw significant declines, while Africa remained stable. In the long run, Asia's leading position has been strengthened, with its export share rising from 51% to 67.6%, and China's contribution accounting for over 50%. The EU's share has shrunk, while emerging markets such as India and Africa have shown significant growth. The impact of geopolitics and energy costs on the restructuring of regional supply chains has become increasingly prominent.