World Imports of Finished Stone: A Changing Reality
Report By : Marmo Maccchine on the net

It's a well-known fact that, in the stone trade, the most profitable segment is finished goods since they are products with high added value. So, to keep an eye on the evolution of the finished-stone market - dynamic and changeable also for the inevitable influences of taste and fashion - we feel it is of interest to take a brief look at the major importers of these wares, studying their inflows from 1990 to 1997.
For some time the marble and stone market has been generally expanding, aside from the more or less frequent crises occurring on some markets. And because growth is so great, it's worthwhile mentioning actual figures. In fact, the volume of global trading in finished goods (here represented by the sum total of imports by individual markets) more than doubled in only eight years, going from 3,025,000 tons in 1990 to 6,281,000 in 1997.

A result by itself worth a thousand words in testifying to the sector's incomparable development, all the more praiseworthy because it occurred among enterprises not always greatly concerned with carefully planning their products' promotion. Considering also that compared to the year before 1997 showed an increase of 10.5%, there are valid reasons to believe that this development is far from finished. Excepting, of course, repercussions from the ongoing Asian crisis that will obviously influence the imports of the countries involved in it.

While this is the overall picture, analyzing the individual importer nations also provides interesting data. On the top-market level, Japan was still the heaviest buyer, while the United States leapt into second place, overtaking Germany, which regressed to third. China found herself the world's fourth biggest purchaser of flooring and facing in stone.But let's take things in order.
In Europe the most outstanding phenomenon was the drop in German imports, down from 710,000 to 673,000 tons, or about 5% less. This was a predicted and expected drop, but none the less a painful one because Germany is a "traditional" market for marble and granite. As early as 1990, in fact, its finished-goods imports amounted to a half million tons.
The rest of Europe revealed a fairly satisfactory picture, with stable situations slightly on the rise on all markets except the Swiss, down more than 7%.
An especially good showing was made by Belgium, whose purchases grew over 16%, from 139,000 to 162,000 tons, and even in the United Kingdom there were signs of an uptake in finished stone imports, in 1997 amounting to 77,000 tons over the 62,000 of the year before.
In Asia we find the world's number one importer of stone flooring and facing, Japan, which in 1997 bought 1,288,000 tons, 10% more than the previous year. Aside from the importance of this result, the rise in Japanese imports is truly impressive since in 1990 they did not amount to more than 529,000 tons.
After Japan, China, the fourth-ranking buyer of finished stone goods, bought 543,000 tons, an excellent outcome showing a 47% increase from 1996. China's outstanding performance should be interpreted as the most eloquent confirmation of what we have observed many times: for materials exporters, whatever their nationality, assiduous coverage of this market is a must, and it also offers interesting opportunities in niche markets.
Taiwan did well, too, with its imports of flooring and facing in natural stone showing an increase of nearly 50% (up from 63,000 to 94,000 tons), and so did South Korea, whose purchases rose by 40%, from 163,000 to 231,000 tons. However, it's still too soon to judge South Korea's performance as a lasting one because right now there is not enough information to predict whether or not the effects of the economic crisis (which seems to have left the local natural stone market unscathed) will have repercussions on the country's future imports of finished stone goods.
Another growth area was the Middle East, whose demand for flooring and facing in natural stone last year rose to a half million tons, a 12% increase over 1996. Saudi Arabia held fairly steady with purchases of 379,000 tons, just 10,000 tons less than the previous year. Singapore was stable, too, with 159,000 tons, 2,000 less than the year before.

In the Americas, the biggest surprise was the United States, whose finished stone purchases were really on the rise, leaping from 678,000 tons to 886,000, an increase of 30%. In any case, for some time statistics have been showing this market's great interest in using natural stone, currently highly successful and popular. And while Canada held steady in its purchases from 1996 to 1997, Mexico finally showed signs of an upswing, reaching 45,000 tons, a net recoup from the 25,000 the year before.

In brief, the international finished-goods market seems quite healthy, above all showing that many markets are still receptive to natural stone. So it's up to sector operators to find the right means of penetrating these markets in winning ways. As we have already said, the market is expanding so, however fierce the competition, everyone should do his part. And may the best ones win.