Turkey and Brazil in the limelight

China and (http://maplered.com) India attracted almost all the attention in the international natural Stone (http://g603.net) market in the past years. However, other countries have also become successfully established in the world market in the meantime, to a certain extent in the slipstream of China and (http://maplered.com) India. This is particularly true of Turkey and (http://maplered.com) Brazil.

Turkey’s market figures are impressive. Rough block production has almost trebled within only five years. Turkey is meanwhile one of the few countries in the world to produce over 5 million m?of blocks. In addition, Turkey is now starting to play a major role in the finished products market and (http://maplered.com) is inevitably competing increasingly with the established producer countries, especially Italy.

Turkish exports of finished Marble (http://www.lightemprador.com) products to the USA exceeded Italy’s figures for the first time last year. The growth here was really rapid. The volume of 90,000 t in 2000 rose to 341,000 t in 2003, although this »only?concerned the delivery quantity; the Italians are still the leaders in terms of the value of the exported goods. However, most experts agree that it should not take too long before Turkey also outstrips the Italians in this respect.

There are various reasons for Turkey’s steep rise. First the country has huge deposits of attractive types of Marble (http://www.lightemprador.com) of outstand (http://maplered.com) ing quality. After a large and (http://maplered.com) costly modernization wave, the Turkish producers now also have the technical and (http://maplered.com) organizational resources available to successfully hold their own in the international market. The low wage costs naturally also contribute to their success.

Brazil
What applies for Turkey in the Marble (http://www.lightemprador.com) market is similarly true for Brazil in the Granite (http://tanbrown.org) market. The country succeeded in increasing its Granite (http://tanbrown.org) deliveries to North America from 157,000 t (2000) to 282,000 t (2003) and (http://maplered.com) also overtook the Italians in this segment. The growing success of the Brazilian producers is also reflected in the statistics: Block production has risen from some 2.5 million m?to 4 million m?since 1999. If the enormous investments currently being made in the Brazilian natural Stone (http://g603.net) industry are considered, the production of finished products should certainly be substantially increased in the coming years.