Italy’s 2011 Growth Market for Stone: USA

MARINA de CARRARA, Italy – 2011 proved to be an up-and-down year for Italy with stone exports, according to recently released year-end data.

The 4-million-plus metric tons of stone shipped from Italy last year represents a 3.22% decline from 2010 in volume, but the overall value of €1.6 billion bests the previous year by 4.26%., according to an analysis by the Internazionale Marmi e Macchine Carrara S.p.a. (IMM).

Italian stone imports, meanwhile, dropped 4.1% in volume and value, affected by continued economic torpor and last year’s Arab Spring political upheavals.

The analysis of import/export data  from Italy’s Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (Istat) also show a rise in both tonnage and value from a surprising customer – the United States.

The overall export numbers include all stone products, including chips and powders; when dealing with standard dimensional stone of raw materials and finished products, the 2011 Italian exports of  3.05 million metric tons shows a 2.63% drop in volume from the previous year, with declines in all sectors except granite finished products and raw slate. Value, however, rose 4.32% from 2010 to €1.58 billion.

“We are still faced with a contradictory situation, due to the consequences of the economic crisis as well as the turmoil in the individual areas,” said IMM Chairman Giorgio Bianchini, “yet overall the industry has clearly held up well; and, thanks to the quality of Italian products, has managed to keep a high value for the finished products exported while the role of some importer countries of raw marble has been consolidated.”

The United States remains Italy’s largest single-country customer for stone in terms of value, with 2011 shipments of 164,000 tons for a value of more than €223 million. The data shows a U.S. growth trend from 2010 of 1.75% in volume and 2.6% in value for all items except granite finished products (which decreased, albeit in decimal fractions).

In the European Union overall for 2011, Italy exports 669,000 tons of quality materials for a value of €479 million (down -2.1% in quantity and up 2.5% in value from 2011) while in the continent outside of the EU, 302,000 tons of marble and granite were sold (up 8.1%) for more than €220 million (up 14.5%).

Italian exports to the Far East continu to grow, albeit to a lesser extent than in previous years; in 2011, Italy sent 957,666 metric tons of marble and granite (up 6% from 2010) at a value of  €290 million (up 11.2%).  China accounts for 488,000 metric tons (up 3.9%) for a value of more than €113 million (up 9.6%).

Other large growth areas for Italian stone exports in 2011 include India with 290,000 metric tons (up 15.75% from the previous year) at a value of €80 million (up +11.2%), and Saudi Arabia with imports of  161,893 tons (up 28.9%) of Italian marble and granite with a value of close to €70 million Euros (up 41.45%).

The reduction in demand from some North African countries had a decisive effect on Italian exports and imports.  The entire North African area, a traditional market for marble blocks and chips, recorded an overall decrease in Italian exports.

The Arab Spring also affected 2010 Italian imports of stone, with significant decreases from the previous year in areas of political instability, such as Egypt (down 27.35% in quantity and 27.5% in value) and Tunisia (down 23.1% in quantity and 21.7% in value).

Globally, Italian imports of stone materials came to 1,752,000 metric tons last year for a total value of €420 million, a 4.1% decrease both in terms of quantity and value from 2010.

Imports from India – Italy’s leading supplier – show a 2.4% drop in volume to 298,758 metric tons, but a 1% increase in value to  €76.2 million.  Shipments from Brazil, another large supplier, grew  slightly at 188,000 metric tons (up 1%) with a value of close to €55 million (up 1.8%).

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