World-wide demand for stone is on the rise. There is a strong concentration on a small number countries that produce stone, and big stone companies in the Euro-Financial-Crisis-Zone have mastered the difficulties by increasing exports. Those are the core statements in the current Statistical Yearbook, XXIII Report Marble and Stones in the World published in Italian and English by Aldus Publishers, Carrara.

Some 1.265 billion square meters of natural stone were used for construction in 2011. The meters square value is based on stone slabs 2 cm in width. That represents an increase of over 3.9% in comparison to the previous year. In relation, the 2001 demand was 709.5 million meters squared.

To get a realistic idea of what this means, the author compared the figures to those of the ceramics industry, which sold some 8.75 billion meters squared in 2011 – nearly 7 times more.

China leads the list in demand with 24.2 % of the market followed by India (7.5%), the USA (5.6%), Italy (4.5%), South Korea (4.2%), Brazil (3.9%) and Germany (2.9%).

The size of the population plays an important role: the per capita demand in Belgium takes on the front runner position followed by Switzerland, Taiwan, South Korea, Italy and Portugal.

The author concludes that the potential for growth rests mainly in the former Newly Industrializing Countries (NIC) with a high population density and new middle class. The market, in short, is still far from being saturated.

Many of the NICs are already big players in terms of production of raw material in quarries: China alone produces 31% followed by India (12.1%), Turkey (9.1%), Iran (7.3%), Italy (6.5%), Brazil (6.3%) and Spain (4.7%).

In total, these seven countries are responsible for 77% of the world-wide production. Meanhwhile, Europe’s role is insignificant.

With 27.3% of the world’s stone exports in 2011, China was the undisputed winner with a monopoly in South Korean and Japanese markets and a strong position in US and EU markets.

With respect to US demand, Brazil’s $565 million worth of imports puts it in a firm first position supplying mostly kitchen worktops. It was followed by China with a volume of $411 million, Italy ($321 million), Turkey ($304 million), and India ($248 million).

In analysis of the individual countries, the author notes that large companies in Greece, Spain and Portugal have successfully battled the break-down of local markets by increasing their exports of raw stone blocks destined for China.

Italy is still the world’s leader in manufacturing of heavy machinery for quarries.