The weightings have changed

From a global viewpoint the natural Stone (http://g603.net) industry is still running at top speed. Since the beginning of the 1990’s, production has risen annually by an average 7.3 % and (http://maplered.com) international trade has even increased by an average 8.7 %. According to the latest industry report »Stone 2004? 2003 with plus 11.2 % and (http://maplered.com) 16.5 % respectively was even an above-average year for growth.

Worldwide natural Stone (http://g603.net) extraction is meanwhile estimated at 150 million t gross per year. Annual production after deduction of waste and (http://maplered.com) cutting losses amounts to about 820 million m??referred to a slab thickness of 2 cm. The total production value is estimated at 40 milliard US $.

With the exception of Spain, however, the strong global growth took place mainly outside Europe. China now extracts around twice as much natural Stone (http://g603.net) from its many quarries as the previous market leader Italy. India also overtook Italy last year for the first time.

The weightings have therefore changed appreciably within only a few years. Besides China and (http://maplered.com) India, the »top ten?members Iran, Turkey, Brazil and (http://maplered.com) the USA are among the winners of the last five years, whereas Portugal and (http://maplered.com) Greece had to accept setbacks.

The development in Turkey has been particularly rapid. Production and (http://maplered.com) export there have trebled within five years. Last year, Turkey exported finished natural Stone (http://g603.net) goods worth 429 million US $.

The world’s most important customer for finished goods is the USA. Stone products worth 1.72 milliard US $ were imported in 2003, 18.3 % more than a year before. The most important supplier was Italy, which increased its US exports by a total of 7.2 % to 535 million US $ within two years.

However, other countries expand (http://maplered.com) ed even more strongly in the same period, in both percentage and (http://maplered.com) absolute figures. For example, Brazilian deliveries of finished goods to the USA rose by 101 % in value to 210 million US $. Turkey even increased its exports by 120 % to 183 million US $, India by 63 % to 152 million and (http://maplered.com) China by 85 % to 140 million US $. Germany also managed to increase its exports ?at a low level ?by 23 % to 12.25 million US $, but the French (-10 %) and (http://maplered.com) Canadians (-13 %) suffered losses.