China churns out half of world's building ceramic products and one third of sanitary ware, the nation's industry association said Wednesday.

The combined export of building and sanitation ceramics jumped eight-fold to 4.5 billion U.S. dollars from 2001 to 2005, said Ding Weidong, Chairman of the China Building Ceramics and Sanitary Wares Association.

Addressing the world ceramics summit, he said many domestic brands have been recognized by the market as reputable and famous products.

Ding stressed the need to develop environment-friendly kitchen and toilet ceramic products, noting water-saving toilets will lead the future product trend.

China's ceramics industry expanded rapidly in recent years. Official figures show the 2005 output topped 96 million tons, accounting for 52 percent of the world's total.

Export value reached 5 billion U.S.dollars in 2005, 17 percent of the global share.

Source: Xinhua