Polish building-material manufacturers are facing increasing competition from cheaper products imported from outside the European Union, especially in energy-intensive sectors. The ceramic-tile market illustrates the scale of the shift: over the past five years, non-EU imports increased by around 40%, domestic production fell by 16%, and employment in Polish plants dropped by 22%.
Szymon Firląg, president of the Employers’ Association of Building Materials Producers, told Newseria that import pressure is strongest in products with high energy use and significant environmental-compliance costs, including ceramic tiles, sanitary ceramics, roofing materials, bituminous products, cast-iron pipes and glass.
Data from the Polish Ceramic Union show that capacity utilisation in domestic ceramic-tile plants fell from 77.5% in 2020 to 65% in 2025. Production last year was just under 85 million sq m, while imports reached 28.4 million sq m. Imports from outside the EU rose much faster and reached 17.1 million sq m, meaning that around 60% of imported tiles now come from non-EU countries, mainly India, Ukraine, China and Turkey.
Domestic production capacity is estimated at around 130 million sq m, leaving a significant share of Polish capacity unused.
A similar trend is visible in ceramic sanitary ware. Polish production fell from 85,500 tonnes in 2021 to 53,000 tonnes in 2025, a decline of around 38%, while imports increased from 14,700 tonnes in 2023 to 19,900 tonnes in 2025.
Professor Marek Bryx of the Warsaw School of Economics said the increase in imports is partly driven by higher production costs in EU plants, including energy, environmental rules, emissions-related costs, transport, packaging and wages. According to analysis cited in the article, the cost of producing ceramic tiles in 2025 was more than 40% higher than in 2021.
Industry representatives warn that a further increase in import penetration could lead to additional production cuts, lower investment and job losses. They also point to local effects in municipalities where a large industrial plant is a major employer and taxpayer.
The municipality of Nowiny in the Świętokrzyskie region is one example. Cementownia Nowiny directly employs more than 300 people, while local authorities estimate that more than 2,000 jobs are linked to the plant and cooperating businesses.
Imports of cement and clinker have also increased. Eurostat data cited in the analysis show that imports rose from 748,200 tonnes in 2023 to 1.24 million tonnes in 2025, while domestic cement production increased from 16.8 million tonnes to 17.3 million tonnes over the same period.
Industry representatives argue that building materials should be treated as a strategic sector because domestic production supports housing, road construction and major infrastructure investment.
Proposals include extending the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to additional building-material categories and applying comparable environmental, quality and carbon-footprint requirements to imported goods.
Polish producers are also calling for a clearer national strategy to support industrial transformation and for a stronger Polish position in EU discussions on trade protection against competition from countries operating under different cost and regulatory conditions.
