India’s Tile Exports Fell 38.8% in Q1 FY27, Not 70% — and Had Largely Recovered by June

India’s ceramic tile exports fell sharply in the first quarter of FY27, but by materially less than the figures circulating in the trade — and the decline was concentrated almost entirely in a single month. Official data shows exports under HS 6907 dropped to ₹2,920.61 crore in April–June 2026, from ₹4,774.45 crore a year earlier, a decline of 38.8%. That is roughly ₹1,854 crore of quarterly export business lost.

India’s Tile Exports Fell 38.8% in Q1 FY27, Not 70% — and Had Largely Recovered by June

The monthly figures matter more than the quarterly total, because they show a collapse that was severe but short.

April 2026 was the trough, with exports down by nearly two-thirds. That is the month the cluster was at its weakest, with gas supply constrained and a large proportion of units not firing. By June, exports were within 10% of the prior year. July slipped back to −18.6%, indicating recovery that is real but not yet settled.

The decline also began earlier than the quarter suggests. March 2026 was already down 17.4% year-on-year, consistent with Somany Ceramics’ account that gas prices surged from early March.

The Base Was Not an Inflated One

Context matters when reading a decline of this size. FY26 was a growth year for Indian ceramic tile exports, not an exceptional peak: exports totalled ₹18,730 crore against ₹18,053 crore in FY25, an increase of 3.7%.

So the Q1 FY27 fall is measured against a normal base, and it reflects a supply disruption rather than the unwinding of an unusual surge. That distinction affects how the trade should read the recovery: capacity that was lost to a one-month shock returns faster than market share lost to a structural competitiveness problem.

What the Filed Company Data Shows

Somany Ceramics’ investor presentation dated 11 September 2026 puts industry exports at approximately ₹2,900 crore in Q1 FY27 against approximately ₹4,800 crore a year earlier, a decline of 39%. Export volumes, the company states, stood at around 69 million square metres, down 51% year-on-year.

Those figures align closely with the official data. They also carry an important detail the value figures alone do not: volumes fell considerably further than value. Exporters, in other words, held price and lost volume rather than discounting to defend share.

The Cost Pressure Behind It

Somany’s presentation states that gas prices rose from approximately ₹45 per scm to as high as approximately ₹90 per scm, that uncertainty over pricing continues, and that no significant reduction is expected in the short term. That is roughly a doubling of the single largest input cost in tile manufacturing, and it is the clearest account of Morbi’s cost position from a company filing rather than a trade estimate.

Production was disrupted alongside cost. Gas consumption in the cluster fell to a level serving just 83 units by 31 March 2026. By mid-May, more than 670 units had resumed operations. Export orders require committed production schedules and confirmed shipment dates, and capacity that was not producing could not fulfil overseas contracts — buyers moved to alternative suppliers.

Trade remedy measures in destination markets form a further layer. Multiple markets maintain active anti-dumping or countervailing duties against Indian ceramic tiles, including a United States countervailing duty order and provisional anti-dumping payments imposed by South Africa in July 2026. These measures do not cause a decline of this magnitude on their own, but they narrow the margin buffer that would otherwise let exporters absorb a cost shock.

The Domestic Market Angle — Where This Matters Most for Indian Dealers

This is the part of the export story with direct consequences at the dealer counter in India.

When export markets became unviable, Morbi’s manufacturers faced a straightforward commercial reality: production capacity that cannot serve overseas buyers has to find a home somewhere. The domestic market absorbed price increases that export buyers would not, while international buyers switched suppliers.

With the cluster now largely back in production but export volumes still below prior-year levels, a volume of capacity that would ordinarily have gone overseas is competing for domestic shelf space and project orders instead.

Surplus capacity chasing domestic demand has a predictable consequence: price competition. Unbranded and semi-branded Morbi supply that would have shipped to Gulf, African and East European markets is now competing in Indian markets, at price points that branded manufacturers with higher cost structures will find difficult to match.

The June and July figures are the ones to watch. If the recovery in exports holds, that domestic surplus shrinks. If July’s slip back to −18.6% continues into Q2, it does not.

What This Means for the Trade

Dealers should expect continued price competition from unbranded Morbi supply at the counter, though less severe than a 70% export collapse would have implied. The pressure will be concentrated in the overlapping price segments where unbranded Morbi product competes directly with branded lines. Premium and design-led segments are more insulated; the value and mid-market segments are where any squeeze will be felt.

For dealers planning H2 FY27 stocking and pricing, the honest position is that this is a two-sided risk rather than a one-way bet. Exports were within 10% of prior-year levels in June. If that holds through Q2, the domestic surplus thesis weakens considerably. If gas costs stay at current levels and exports slip further, it strengthens.

The broader exposure remains. Morbi’s export business depends on West Asian shipping routes and Gulf-linked fuel supply in ways that no amount of operational efficiency can fully hedge — a lesson the trade has now learned twice in three years, after the Red Sea disruption and now this one. That exposure is a permanent variable in Indian tile pricing, and Q1 FY27 priced it.

A Note on the Data

Export figures in this report are from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, accessed through the Ministry of Commerce TradeStat portal, for HS code 6907 (ceramic flags and paving, hearth or wall tiles; ceramic mosaic cubes and the like), values in rupees crore, financial year basis. Data for August 2026 onward was not yet published at the time of writing.

These are all-India figures. Morbi accounts for the large majority of Indian ceramic tile exports but not all of them, and the official data does not break out the cluster separately.