The Italian stone industry exported 3,751,894 tonnes of ornamental stone for a total value of 1,988,498,635 Euros in 2016, registering a decline of 5.6% in quantity and 3.6% in value compared to 2015. This is what emerges from the Report of Internazionale Marmi e Macchine Carrara SpA (IMM).

 

All product categories of ornamental stone contribute to define this decrease in sales. In particular, for marble, this appears to be the first decline since 2009. In 2016, compared to the previous year, and for the first time since 2009, a slight decline of the exported  value of the processed marble (-1.73%) has been recorded, together with a much more noticeable decrease in quantity (-9.4 %), in spite of a growing appreciation of this material by the architecture and design worlds.

 

As a consequence of the global economic crisis, the Italian stone industry had received oxygen from a significant increase in foreign sales of manufactured marble, whose exports recorded considerable growth in value (+ 61% in recent years, when 2016 is compared to 2009). Sales to United States of America were particularly decisive, accounting for about a third of the total Italian exported values all over the world.

 

In 2016, the Italian stone industry, exported  829,000 tonnes of finished marble,  valued at just over one billion Euro, of which 335.4 million is the value of the sales to USA (-7.4% in volume, + 0.5% in value). USA, however, is considerably increasing imports of products from  China which is, after Turkey,  the second most important supplier  for the country in terms of volumes if we consider the quantities, and the third, after Italy and Turkey, if we consider the values, with a share of 22% in the US market.

 

Nevertheless, the most significant decrease in the Italian export was recorded for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The value of Italian exports of finished marble to Saudi Arabia decreased from the value of 69 million Euro in 2015 to 40.7 million in 2016 (- 41%), while exports  to  UAE decreased  from almost 58 millions in 2015 to 46.7 million in 2016 (-19.3%). Important declines in the Italian exports of finished marble have involved also the Russian market (- 21% in volume, - 17.5% in value), Switzerland (- 9.7% in volume, - 17% in value) and Germany ( -6.9 in quantity, -6% in value).

 

Chart 1 - Value of Exports of Italian Stone (in EUR)

The countries which, instead,  in 2016 have increased their demand of marble in processed stone items are: United Kingdom, which is in the European Union that makes Italian exports recording the highest values for this product category  (49.7 million euro, + 11% compared to 2015); France, where Italy  exported 15,000 tonnes of processed marble, worth about 33 million euros (+ 7% compared to 2015); Canada where Italy exported processed stone  items for a  value of 27 million euro (+ 15.7%); Mexico, for a value of 21.3 million (+ 11.7%) and Australia where Italy exported processed marble for a value of 24.4 million euro  (+ 33.4%). 

 

There has also been a decrease of about 7.4% for the export of marble in blocks and slabs. In 2016, Italy exported to the rest of the world a million and 180 thousand tonnes of raw marble with a value of almost 315 million euro, of which 232 million realised through export to the Far East area: in particular China and India, for the respective values of 114 million (+ 5.9%) and 67 million euro (-16.5%). China is, however, increasing the purchase of blocks of marble from Iran, with volumes that increased from 398,000 tonnes in 2015 to 526 thousand tonnes in 2016 (+ 32%), with an average unit value of 165 EUR per ton.

 

Also imports recorded an 8% decrease as evidence of a business that has slowed down. The only rising datum concerns imports of finished granite products for a value of almost 60 million euro (+ 8.8%) out of a total national imports of ornamental stone of 384 million.

“On the occasion of the event White Carrara Downtown, to be held in Carrara from June 10 to 18, IMM has invited  professionals, contractors and architects right from some of these fast-growing countries" affirms Fabio Felici, President of  IMM-Carrara Fiere Among others, there will be attending delegates from the US, Mexico, Vietnam and Iran in order to maximize the probability of commercial success of the business meetings that we will arrange during the event for the  companies of the Apuan-Versilian stone district.