Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128ment remains flat to 2016. All regions across the U.S. are poised for growth, with starts in the South Atlantic and South Central States forecasted to have the largest per- centage of growth when looking at value of total starts. Tile consumption As previously mentioned, 2016 residential construction expe- rienced another solid year of growth for new and remodeling activity, and commercial con- struction increased modestly as well in terms of square footage. Based on this, we believe tile and stone combined consump- tion will increase to ~ 3.3 billion square feet in 2016, an increase around 5%. Based upon the above forecasted growth in each market for 2017, we can segment the ceramic tile and stone industry accordingly, and calculate the respec- tive share in square foot- age of each segment with an applica- ble growth percentage based upon the 2017 outlook. A c o n s e r v a - tive estimate range for 2017 indi- cates combined tile and stone con- sumption growth of between 4% and 6% to approximately 3.5 bil- lion square feet. Of course, risks to the above estimates are always present, which are completely outside of our collective control and have a direct impact on construction and spending activity. With a new administration in the U.S. and other political changes in key markets around the world, the impact to trade, interest rates, government budgets and mon- etary policy can instantly affect forecasts. As with last year, all of the major institutions that track and forecast construction activity are projecting growth for 2017 at various rates. It is that consensus that makes us confident we are looking forward to an exciting 2017 and continued growth of ceramic tile and stone! ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2017 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 56 TileLetter | February 2017