NATURAL STONE WORLD MARKET 2015 - INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK

15-06-2016

According to international statistics, the international natural stone sector has had a mixed year in 2015. Regarding the sales revenue the increase has continued: the yearly turnover has reached EUR 25,7 billion, which means an increase of 12,4% compared to 2014, and 14,6% compared to 2013. The average price per ton of sales volume has also increased: after a drop of almost 5% in the previous year, it has risen by 24,4% in 2015 to over EUR 330/ton.

At the same time, the upward trend of previous years was broken in sales volumes: in 2015 the annual sales volume was 77,8 M tons, which represents a 9,7% decrease compared to the previous year, even below the 2013 performance.

There is no significant change in the export markets compared to the previous years. The yearly export value was EUR 15,1 billion with an increase of 17,0% compared to 2014. 10 countries cover the 92% of the world export value, but only China was able to increase its market segment while the other top 10 countries suffered a slight decrease in their shares. China's prosperity seems to be unstoppable: while in 2013 around 34% of international exports came from Chinese quarries, in 2015 their share reached 42%!

Italy continues to hold its second position (12,4%), mainly due to the increased sales to the United States, and Turkey (11,2%) is the third. India (9,8%) and Brazil (6,8%) preserve their significant market share, but Spain (3,7%), Greece (1,8%) and Portugal (1,0 %) from Europe are also part of the top 10.

from: Statistical Yearbook 2016, IMM Carrara