Amounts and values of Italian finished products to the US and EU are growing. China and India beginning to become destination markets. Tuscan district is doing fine in exports of finished marble and granite. Exports of Italian technology positive as
Amounts and values of Italian finished products to the US and EU are growing. China and India beginning to become destination markets. Tuscan district is doing fine in exports of finished marble and granite. Exports of Italian technology positive as well

In the first six months of 2006, Italy exported nearly 2 million 400 thousand tons (+2.2% than in the same period in 2005) of raw and finished marble and granite, worth over 910 million euros (+9.9% vs 2005), figures that also include chips, slate and porphyry. These figures have been announced by Internazionale Marmi e Macchine Carrara, which, as it has done for many years, has processed official data from Istat, the Central Statistics Office, finding positive and encouraging signs for marble and granite, even if the levels of 2000-2001 have not been recovered yet, while for slate, which keeps being heavily affected by global competition, the loss of some markets has not been set off by the growth in other markets.
The growth in exported values is significant, because it concerns finished marble and granite products, which have the highest added value, with an increase in mean values per ton of exports, rewarding the work done by the Italian companies on overseas markets; especially the European Union shows a slight growth in mean values, even if the German market is going a few points back (-9% by volume and –4.3% by value) with problems especially in the volumes of finished marble. On the European market, Spain has decreased its imports of finished marble, the United Kingdom is holding out, while France is importing more products, especially granite. Non-EU Europe is also sending positive signs for finished marble (over 32 million euros alone), with Switzerland and Russia leading the result: Switzerland alone imports nearly 45 million euros, while Russia’s imports specialise in finished marble.
The basic market remains that of north America, with the United States being always the greatest importers of finished products, from polished slabs to more complex products: compared with 2005, they grow +6.4% by volume and +11.3% by value in finished and raw marble, granite and other stones. “It is a very important result that needs no further comment – says the president of Internazionale Marmi e Macchine, Giancarlo Tonini – even if we must always be very cautious about these figures, because the problems and difficulties of our industry exports are due to negative economic trends and structural problems, related to the deep changes that have taken place in the global markets and in the sharing out of the productive roles. Therefore, we must always comment on the ongoing processes and situations that change in real time, bearing in mind the needs of the industry in the search for new markets, aware that they are selling a product with a high added value that must lead us to approach the markets as a system.”
The Near and the Middle East and the Asian regions too are sending positive signs, the best in the last few years.
For the Middle East, the growth mainly concerns finished products, but caution is required because these figures are small, so they are easily affected even by small changes, even if the exports, especially finished marble and granite, are promising and are growing again in terms of quantity and mean value. The trend is led by the Emirates and Kuwait, while some regression is found in Saudi Arabia, which is the greatest market in the region, and the events that hit Lebanon (which had been growing until June) and Israel could be comparatively influential.
Positive is the trend of the Far East, after years of a relentless fall, with a growth in the Italian exports of blocks and raw slabs, while the mean value of finished products is increasing, evidence of the overall trend of an area that includes very different and complicated situations.
Along with China, which has set out to become more and more of a destination market as well as a competitor, India is clearly emerging too and, even if with small figures, it imports our raw and finished products and looks set to do even better in future.
Africa, especially Mediterranean Africa, confirms the trends that saw it increase steadily over the years, with a rise in the Italian exports of marble blocks and slabs and finished marble and granite that have a livelier dynamics, while blocks are taken up by the greater countries of the northern strip.
Few comments on imports, which suggest that the companies are confident and have thick order portfolios. Italy imported 1 million 495 thousand tons of materials (especially raw ones) (+2.2% than in the same period in 2005) worth 304 million euros (+15.8%). The rise in granite imports sets off the slight drop in the first quarter, while the imports of finished products are increasing, moderately if compared with our exports, even if imports of finished granite are starting to be felt.
Among suppliers, a key role is played by Spain, followed by Finland, while a newcomer is Slovenia although its figures are still very small but the dynamics is interesting. Still essential are Norway (decreasing) and Turkey (increasing) among the European suppliers, while the African area is dominated by South-Africa and Zimbabwe, with the reappearance of Mozambique and Egypt which qualifies as both a supplier and a customer. In South America, Brazil retains its positive balance in terms of values and volumes, which are already quite high, while India and China show no significant variations.

The district of the Apuan Alps and Versilia, and the other Italian districts
In this scenario, the behaviour of the main Italian stone districts sees the district of the Apuan Alps and Versilia show a livelier and more dynamic trend than that of Veneto, although its absolute figures remain lower.
The exports of the companies working in the provinces of La Spezia, Lucca and Massa Carrara in the first six months of 2005 made up over 1 million tons overall (+10.99%) worth 270 million euros (+17%), although there was a substantial decrease in the exports of granite blocks and slabs. The particularly positive trend of finished marble (+21% by value) is mostly accounted for by the North American and the Middle Eastern markets, where the Tuscan operators have fared well for a long time. Even in non-EU Europe, the Tuscan district records a better performance, but keeps being scarcely present on the German market which is essential for the whole industry exports, with results rewarding especially the area of Veneto, whose companies are doing very well on the US market and remain marginal in the Middle East, with a negative balance in the Far East, where the Tuscan presence if supported, instead, mostly by raw and finished marble.

The technology:
The exports of processing, cutting machinery and machine tools are slightly increasing compared with the same period in 2005, with a recovery more on volumes than on values.
A number of interesting markets are opening up to the Italian companies that supply stone processing and quarrying technology, while the total exports of stone cutting, polishing and processing machinery and machine tools turned out to have exceeded 225 million euros, +14.5% more than in June 2005: if the next few months confirm the trend of the first six months, 2006 will close as a great year for machinery as well.