The marble technologies production
chain represents a colossus of Italian industry, with 3,200
companies and 34,000 employees generating a turnover of 4.5
billion euro a year.
The industry has an annual export value of 3.2 billion euro and
an annual trade surplus of nearly 2.8 billion euro.
These figures from the Study Centre of Confindustria, Italy's
main association representing manufacturing and service
companies, are confirmation that the sector represents one of
Italy's main excellences - and Marmomac, the exhibition
currently underway at the Verona Exhibition Centre, is one of
its flagship brands.
In the first half of 2023, Italian exports (including materials
and related extraction and processing technologies) remained at
the record levels seen in 2022 (+0.1%), reaching 1,566.3 million
euro.
Last year, the sector set the record for foreign sales, with
3.267 billion euro (+8.9% over 2021, +11.8% compared to 2019
levels).
In detail, data for the six-month period show substantial
stability for Italian exports of marble, travertine, granite and
natural stone in general, which remained slightly below the
values for the period January-June 2022 (-2.6%), reaching 1,010
million euro.
In the whole of 2022, total sales, including both rough and
processed products, grew by 13.1% year-on-year to reach an
all-time high of 2,131.8 million euro.
The average price of Italian marble and stone products exported
in the first half of this year reached 962.26 euro/tonne, an
increase of 11.6%.
The leading export markets for blocks were China - the leading
market for Italian stone - at 91.3 million euro and India - the
second biggest buyer - at 24.3 million euro.
The main destinations for slabs and processed products were the
United States in first place at 227.6 million euro, a value
equal to more than a quarter of total Italian exports, followed
by Germany in second place at 74.2 million and France in third
place at 56.1 million.
Good signals also came from the Swiss market (the fourth buyer
at 51.6 million), and above all from the United Arab Emirates,
whose purchases of Italian manufactured products reached 32.5
million euros.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
