IN 2021 ITALIAN STONE EXPORTS START TO GROW AGAIN: + 20.8% ON 2020 AND + 1.9% ON 2019

IN 2021 ITALIAN STONE EXPORTS START TO GROW AGAIN: + 20.8% ON 2020 AND + 1.9% ON 2019

July 4, 2022 from Marmomacchine International Magazine

After closing 2020 with a 17.3% drop in sales abroad, the Italian stone industry last year recorded a marked growth in its exports – which affected almost all the main sector reference markets -, linking the economic recovery and the renewed momentum of the construction sector worldwide.

According to the official statistics elaborated by the Study Center of CONFINDUSTRIA MARMOMACCHINE and presented on 10 June in Milan at the General Assembly of the Association, in 2021 the total Italian export of marble, travertine, granite and natural stone in general – including both the raw materials and the processed ones – in fact increased in value by 20.8% compared to the previous year, reaching 1,850.4 million euros. Despite the slowdown compared to the + 33.6% trend of the 1st half – a figure influenced, however, by the comparison with the minimum points of March and April 2020, during the phase of production stoppage -, thanks to this strong recovery, the foreign sales of the sector even exceeded those of 2019 (+ 1.9%), the pre-pandemic year.

Going into the details of the composition of our exports, it should be noted that the largest percentage increase was marked by raw materials, which with a growth of 25.9% compared to 2020 reached 369 million (a value, however, still 13% lower. compared to the levels of 2019), while the increase in sales of finished and semi-finished products in the last year was equal to 19.6% for a total of 1,481.4 million, a figure that instead exceeded that of the 2019.

Among the areas of destination, we note the strong recovery in purchases of raw product from China (+ 45.7% on 2020, for 195 million), which is confirmed as the undisputed leader among the countries that import blocks of marble from Italy with a approximately 53% of the total, followed by India with 28.5 million (+ 31.9%).

As regards the geography of sales in the segment of finished and semi-finished products – the materials with the highest added value, and which represent approximately 80% of the total value of our stone exports – the decisive recovery in exports to the United States should be highlighted. United States (+ 30.6%, after the decline of 15.4% last year), which with imports of 407 million confirm, with a large margin, our 1st destination market. Sales of plates and finished products were very positive also in Europe, mainly towards Germany (+ 15.3%, 2nd buyer with 153.5 million imports), Switzerland (+ 10.4%, 3rd at 95 , 5 million), France (+ 6%, 4th to 78.4 million), United Kingdom (+ 34.2%, 5th to 63 million) and Austria (+ 23.5%, 7th to 43.7 mln). Moving to the Gulf Area, another traditional reference market for Italian materials, there was a negative “rebound” in sales in Saudi Arabia (-10.2%, 6th to 51.6 million) and Qatar (-6.5%, 9th to 36.5 million) – however, two the very few countries growing in 2020 -, however offset by the robust increase in exports to the United Arab Emirates (+ 39.7%, 8th with 41.1 million). The ranking of the top 10 sector destinations is closed by Australia, whose imports of Made in Italy products last year grew by more than 50%, reaching 32.5 million.

Very encouraging indications – but which will be verified in the coming months in light of the developments in the current international situation – also come from the data for the 1st quarter of this year, during which the Italian export of stone materials has grown in value 21.2% compared to the same period in 2021.