How the Middle East War Directly Affects the Morbi Ceramic Industry and Its Prices

Morbi, in Gujarat, makes most of the ceramic tiles and slabs produced in India. It sits more than two thousand kilometres from the Strait of Hormuz, and in 2026 that distance turned out to mean almost nothing. When the war around Iran closed in on the Gulf’s shipping lanes, the effect reached Morbi’s kilns within weeks – through the fuel that fires them, the containers that carry their output, and the markets that buy it.

This is how that chain works, what it did to prices, and what it means if you are buying slabs this year.

A kiln runs on gas

Porcelain is fired at around 1,200 °C, and in Morbi that heat comes from gas: piped natural gas supplied by Gujarat Gas, or propane bought from private suppliers. Roughly four in ten manufacturers run on propane; the rest on natural gas. Across the cluster that is about 55 lakh standard cubic metres of propane a day, with another 25-30 lakh SCM of piped natural gas on top.

Fuel is not a minor line item. Gas makes up around 40 per cent of the cost of producing a ceramic tile. When its price moves, the price of everything leaving the kiln moves with it.

India imports much of that gas, and a large share of it – LNG from Qatar, propane from the Gulf producers – passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Once fighting disrupted the strait, supply tightened and the price went with it. Reports in March 2026 also put Qatar’s LNG capacity down by about 17 per cent after damage that could take years to repair.

What happened in Morbi

• Gas more than doubled at the peak. Before the crisis, Morbi’s ceramic units paid an average of about ₹48 per SCM. On the spot market it touched ₹90. It later settled around ₹79 for piped gas and ₹85 for propane.
• Kilns went cold. By mid-March, 400 to 550 factories – most of the cluster – had stopped production. Many stayed shut for 30 to 45 days.
• A price deal, then a restart. In April, the Morbi Ceramic Manufacturers Association and Gujarat Gas agreed a single price for all industrial users, replacing a proposal to charge propane-switching units more. Units aimed to restart on 1 May, with another two to three weeks to reach full output as workers returned.

Freight and markets were hit too

Gas was only half of it. The Gulf is one of Morbi’s biggest export destinations, and the same conflict that squeezed fuel made shipping there slow, scarce and expensive. A container to the UAE that cost $300-400 before the crisis was quoted at about $2,500.

Between April and June 2026, Morbi’s ceramic exports fell by around 70 per cent against the same quarter a year earlier – from $616.78 million to $184.19 million. The Gulf markets fell hardest: Iraq by 98 per cent, Oman by 94, Saudi Arabia by 93 and the UAE by 87. Shipments to Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom fell sharply as well, and anti-dumping duties of 50-100 per cent in several markets made recovery harder still.

What it does to the price of a slab

The arithmetic is simple. If gas is 40 per cent of production cost and gas rises from ₹48 to ₹79 per SCM – about 65 per cent – production cost rises by roughly a quarter before anything else changes. Add higher freight, weeks of lost output and plants restarting below capacity, and price lists across the cluster had nowhere to go but up.

Large-format slabs feel this more than small tiles. A slab spends longer in the kiln, needs a longer and hotter firing cycle to stay flat at 2.4 or 3 metres, and ships in crated loads where every container matters. Each part of the chain the war touched, a slab touches more of.

What buyers should do

• Confirm prices in writing, with a validity date. A quote from the first quarter of 2026 is not a quote today.
• Order the whole run at once. Shade and calibre vary between production batches. Splitting an order across a restart risks a floor or wall that does not match.
• Plan for longer lead times on large formats and export shipments, and ask your supplier where the goods are routed.
• Talk to the manufacturer directly. Dealers and importers can confirm current stock, batch and freight with us before committing a project.

The war did not change what makes a good slab. It changed what it costs to make one and how long it takes to reach you. Knowing where that cost comes from is the best way to plan around it.

Figures are from reporting by Business Today (19 March 2026), DeshGujarat (17 April 2026) and Vibes of India (10 August 2026).