This paper examines a special aspect of the Mediterranean markets of ceramic raw material s for the tile producing industry. Due to technical developments of the tile industry and the political changes in Eastern Europe since the late 1980s, a significant change has taken place in the supply of ceramic raw materials for the tile producing countries especially in the Mediterranean and adjacent areas. The Mediterranean countries represent approx. 1/4 of the world tile production of approx. 7,6 M m~?. The strongly growing production of stoneware tiles, known today as gres porcellanato, is based on the availability of Ukrainian clays. Clay exports from Ukraine, starting from scratch in 1994 exceeded 5 Mt in 2006, caused a significant drop in the sales figures of other European clay producers. Beneficiary of this development have been and still are the Turkish feldspar producers. The variations of tile production, mining of the most important ceramic raw materials, transport and trade routes for clay and feldspar in the area are highlighted and illustrated.
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