After a slight downturn last year (-3.8% from the record levels of 2022), the first half of 2024 showed encouraging growth rates for the foreign sales of Italian stone sector companies. According to data processed by the CONFINDUSTRIA MARMOMACCHINE Studies Center, from January to May this year, the overall value of exports of marbles, travertines, granites and other natural stones Made in Italy – which account for about 70% of sector revenue – reached 873.8 million euros, a 4.2% increase from the first 5 months of 2023.
The biggest growth was in sales of raw materials, which reached 180.6 million (+9.1% from January to May 2023) but there was also good performance (+3%) in exports of finished and semi-finished products – those with the highest added value that account for about 80% of the sector’s foreign revenue – amounting to 693.2 million euros.
Driving Italy’s exports of raw materials were mainly orders from China, again in the first 5 months of 2024 the top importer of blocks extracted in Italy with 85 million euros (+17.5% on an annual basis) and a nearly 50% share, while there was a downturn in exports to India (-15.5%, second buyer with 17.1 million).
As for finished and semi-finished products, the leading importer remained the United States, whose purchases from January to May were worth 205.2 million (with an excellent increase of 12.1% after the minus 7.1% in 2023), followed by Germany with 52.9 million (down 13.9%) and France with 51.7 million (+13.4%). Rising to fourth place among destination markets for Italian stone goods was Saudi Arabia (with 40.1 million) which, thanks to a 70.3% increase in imports surpassed Switzerland (with 36.8 million, -11.7%), the United Arab Emirates (with 27 million, -4.5%) and the United Kingdom (with 25.7 million, +8.8%). Also among the top ten markets were Austria (with 16.8 million, -4.9% and two important non-EU markets: Australia (with 16.7 million, +7.4%) and Morocco (with 13 million, down 17.7%).
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