2008 was a very difficult year; a very difficult one to sum up in just a few words or with a brief judgement.
It is certainly a year that we will remember for many years to come though, due both to the financial
and economic events and the changes that they brought about, triggering off processes involving
national economies and the international order of important powers that are still not over. It is widely
believed that the world will be a different place at the end of this recession.
The recession began at the end of 2007 and turned into a full-blown phenomenon with the bankruptcy
of the Lehmans Brothers Bank on 15 September 2008. On that same day the Dow Jones Index was
down 500 points that was the most significant fall since after 11 September 2001. In the ensuing days
and months the situation worsened and the initial financial crisis, with its origins closely tied to the
subprime mortgage crisis already felt in 2007, then became an economic one. Now, near to the closing
of the first six months of 2009 there is some talk of light at the end of the tunnel with some economic
indicators showing slight improvements, or rather they are no longer getting worse or falling so fast.
Yet there is still much fear about what still looks risky and unclear. Toxic assets in bank balance sheets,
unemployment that continues to grow (thereby eroding the spending capacity of the population in many
countries), reduction in the value of wealth and uncertainty in the future for consumers are all factors
that make the horizon of the crisis uncertain and cloudy. Right now there is discussion as to the state of
important production groups in key industries such as the automobile industry and the forecasts for the
US economy, even if there is a recovery at the end of 2009, are only just starting to pick up on improvements
in some indicators. The banks are still under heavy stress and consequently access to the service
is difficult and credit cards are still a cause for apprehension for the possible negative developments in
the event of widespread insolvency on behalf of credit card holders.
Of course there are geographic and economic areas that have felt the crisis to a lesser extent or at least
have been more able to react and count on internal resources and their own incentive to development
than others. China in particular has shown all its strength as a growing economy due not only to its
size but also to its centralised management and planning capacity that have enabled it to be active
and reactive in adapting to change. In actual fact, all the governments of the leading countries and the
national and international monetary authorities have imposed policies and actions in response to the
crisis (unprecedented in recent economic history), obviously proportionate to their involvement but in
general coordinated and standardised. There is still much tension and most of all the significant dif-
ficulties facing the banking system create instability that it is feared may hide more surprises and lead
to further moments of tension for the international economies. All eyes and expectations are on the US
where a recently appointed President with wide national and international consensus is continuing to
support the capitalization of credit institutions so that they may respond to a further deterioration in the
macroeconomic picture. The US administration is also looking for solutions to aid families in difficulty
with the reimbursement of mortgages so as to prevent distraint and stabilise the housing market.
Hopefully, however, there should be an improvement in the international situation already at the end
of 2009. At least we hope this will happen and despite some important figures that are still down compared
to 2008: industrial production, employment, spending incentive, investments and above all the
GNP, many people are already talking of improvements and a possible recovery. The BCE is talking of
a slowdown in the negative trend while the FMI, more cautious, is talking of a gradual recovery possible
as from 2010, and still sees unresolved matters in Euroland countries preventing a quick, decisive
recovery. In the meantime, raw material prices seem to have stabilised, starting from energy prices
which do in fact show some sign of increase, while gold and copper prices are still falling. Copper in
particular has a strategic role for important countries such as China and so the fact that prices are still
falling calls for caution and a re-evaluation of the expectations of a quick exit from the negative cycle
investing the major economies.

The building industry is traditionally the major market for stone materials throughout the world, yet it
is not the only one and others such as furnishings, funeral art, monuments and artwork are not only economically
important but also and above all strategic and very prestigious. Consequently, any phenomenon
with a significant effect on the building industry has an effect on the stone industry too even though
this may not be to the same extent. The stone industry is part of the building world yet it is only present
in certain phases of the entire process and can therefore feasibly follow its own course within this process.
What is vital, however, is that it cannot be estranged from it (even though it may not undergo the
same size variations as the entire industry) since it is the building industry that keeps it afloat.
Over the last two years now the building industry has behaved differently in different geographical areas.
In some important markets for the industry the downward trend began already in 2007. The United
States first and foremost but also Germany and other countries in the European Union as well as the Far
East have shown signs of difficulty and negative trends as from the second half of 2007, despite the fact
that the stone industry recorded an increase in 2007 on 2006 (another year of overall expansion). The
attention of the building industry observatories has been mainly directed towards the US, heightened by
the fear of the general situation which has proven to be more and more unstable and dangerous by the
day. In 2008 the bubble burst, yet for the building industry (especially the new building segment) and
in terms of building yards and licenses issued, the crisis was already evident and “simply” got worse,
especially in certain consumption brackets. The stone “system” felt the blow to a lesser extent than
others since it is generally positioned in the upper brackets or rather more stable ones affected less by
the overall turmoil.
However it was not able to come out unscathed by the general fluctuations. The overall housing market
in North America suffered a downward trend throughout 2008 as is shown for example by the price
indexes. The monthly statistics given by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index1 show a national
average drop over the year of over 18% and in some segments this reached almost 38% (single family
residential buildings). The sales of existing houses suffered an 11% price reduction overall whereas
new single family houses underwent a reduction of over 30% and this was accompanied by an equally
sudden reduction in consumer trust. Faced with this situation, US imports of finished natural stone
products fell by 16% over the year for marble and travertine and 27% for granite, in terms of volume.
This is a significantly higher reduction compared to other leading countries for the stone industry. The
figures in terms of value did not fare any better either.

Bearing in mind the fact that houses are only one part of the market for stone materials, looking at the
S&P/Case-Schiller indexes, the stone industry fared fairly well. This confirms the fact that it is positioned
on the market in consumer brackets that are generally more stable than the average of the building
industry, as is shown by the value tables too. In terms of volume, marble fared better than granite
whereas in terms of value, granite fared better than marble. Comparing the countries shown in the tables
above (the major importers of finished stone products), it is clear that the situation had already begun to
decline in 2007 while things were different for the other two countries. There are in fact three different
scenarios for the three different countries: In China, only now is there a crisis, in Germany there has
been a crisis since 2008 and in the USA there has been one since 2007, and in all three cases there are
variations in terms of materials and both average and absolute values.
Yet what are the details concerning the crisis in the stone market in the United States? Table 3 clearly
shows that granite suppliers suffered a little less than marble and travertine suppliers in terms of prices,
above all average prices, and a little more in terms of overall volume, and this was anticipated already
in the previous year and strongly accentuated in 2008. The decline in overall volume of finished stone
products imported, which exceeded 23% over the year with peaks of -27% for granite, is a signifi-
cant decline that cannot be reabsorbed easily or without grief and without the consequences being felt
throughout the entire industry, and well beyond the country itself. Moreover, granite was also involved
in a strong defamatory campaign in 2008 that claimed the material was dangerous even though this had
been refuted a long time before and brought back to its real, minimum significance. In short, there were
various difficulties both inside and outside the stone industry that strongly affected its performance on
one of its best markets.
Did the major stone suppliers to the USA play an active or passive role in 2008?
On which partner countries did the crisis have the worst impact and on which did it remain sustainable
or even light? Given that the highest decrease was in the volume of finished granite products, the supplier
countries all felt the pinch to some extent, but especially Italy, followed by Brazil and India. Again
as regards granite, blocks or unpolished slabs, the scenario is somewhat different. US imports of these
products rose quite significantly in terms of volume, especially from India and China, even though the
figures are much more limited compared to those for finished products. As regards marble and travertine,
on the other hand, US imports were not so badly hit but the variations were more concentrated on
Turkey (leading supplier) and then Italy, although Mexico and China were also strongly penalised (yet
the figures are much lower).
To conclude this part of analysis, after the United States we should take a look at Germany and China,
this time as consumers of stone materials and not only as stone producers for the USA. Germany has
been experiencing a fairly serious crisis in the building industry for some time now and this has gradually
worsened thereby leading to an overall reduction in annual consumption. This has occurred alongside
another issue which will probably have consequences over the next few years too even when the
current crisis has toned down and a new positive cycle has begun. Some experts have already clearly
reported on this phenomenon which concerns the funeral market that is particularly prosperous in certain
countries including Germany. There is a cultural change underway favoured by the general lack
of resources to be placed in gravestones and monuments that leads to more cremations than burials.
This in turn leads to a gradually increasing reduction in funeral monuments, headstones and chapels
(permanent structures) and an increase in small urns that better suit the surviving relations who can
thus keep a more private and closer memory of their loved ones. It is difficult to say when cremation
will take on strongly but it is certainly a respectable procedure both as regards the environment and the
deceased and generally much easier to deal with. Hence the situation is unlikely to be totally reversed
again. What’s more, this preference is very likely to spread to other countries too, especially where the
difficulty in managing the areas used for burials will push the local institutions themselves to prefer
cremation. However, apart from these variations in certain uses, German imports of finished marble and
granite products fell significantly in 2008, particularly those from Italy that corresponded to only almost
a quarter of the finished granite products that came from China. In two years Italy lost an overall 33.5%
in value as regards finished granite products imported by Germany while China gained 17% in the same
period. This shift in market share which began a few years ago has become a generalised phenomenon
and above all has involved the average values even more than the quantities: Italy’s have dropped a few
percentage points while China’s have risen slightly.
What has been said up to now anticipates to a fair extent what happened to a third of the countries taken
into consideration, whereas China as every year requires separate consideration. It should be said immediately
that Chinese imports, even before exports, rose in 2008 and this was above all in terms of raw
material, especially marble. Egypt was China’s second supplier, exporting over 1 million 200 thousand
tons in 2008, even if the advance of Egypt on the Chinese market is a process that began at least three
years ago. This occurred to the detriment of Spain, Iran and Italy that have lost their positions which
up to just a very few years ago were far superior to Egypt’s. Yet in addition to marble imports granite
imports increased too, thereby integrating the domestic products. Granite was imported above all from
India (the volume imported exceeded even the marble from Egypt) and Brazil which however saw its
share of the market and volumes drop. A comparison of the two types of material in imports and exports
of blocks and finished products (although the imports of finished products are really slight) makes one
thing clear: the imports of marble and travertine, being much higher than exports in blocks, are clearly
widely destined for consumption on the home market, while the flow and placing of granite materials is
statistically more “mixed”. In view of the high consumption figures on the home market, although domestic
production of granite is high it is integrated with imports yet imports are also partially destined
for exports as finished products. In this respect India benefits more than all the other markets since it
has gained an important role equal to Egypt when it comes to marble. Reading between the lines, however,
the important fact is something else: the overall result of imports-exports indicates that despite its
slowness compared to the size of the country and the industry, the market is still opening up a little and
is developing a greater division of products on the domestic market too. In other words the country’s
consumption is moving towards a gradual integration and extension of its range of products, both in
terms of materials and types of products and this can only be welcomed as a very positive note for the
industry on a global scale.
What remains to be analysed is what has happened to the other large Asian producer, India itself, which
has become an important supplier of its major competitor China.
As everyone knows the country is reluctant to integrate its own production with products from other
countries. There are openings even in this troubled 2008 but they are very limited and are growing cautiously
with an accent on quality. In 2008 India imported modest quantities of marble blocks from Italy
and to a much lesser extent from Turkey and a meagre group of other countries, including Iran. Yet the
best performance was seen in exports of raw materials, that is raw materials and semi-raw materials,
above all granite, which recorded an overall +17.3% over the year. Of particular significance were exports
to the US and China that alone grew by 31.6%, again in volume, and confirmed its position as the
leading destination country for Indian materials.
The annual result for Brazil, the other leading world granite producer, was on the other hand negative,
recording a steep 24.7% drop in the volume of raw and semi-raw materials exported (back to just above
the tons exported in 2004), and a 19.4% drop in finished products. Exports to Italy, China and Spain fell
as did finished products to the US, the major importer. These are difficulties related to the international
role of the country that operates first and foremost with North America thanks to its closeness and tradition
and hence was inevitably significantly hit by the fall in uses on the US market.
Yet another different trend was seen in Turkey which exports mainly marble. Turkey’s exports of marble
blocks and slabs increased by 20.3%, especially to China and Syria, while exports of finished products
remained stable overall, resulting from a fall in exports to the USA and an increase in transactions
in free zones which are therefore difficult to trace officially. In Turkey too imports of finished granite
products rose, albeit in a limited way.
A final note on the Eastern European countries. Despite the array of different situations, these markets
remained stable although there was a gradual slowdown underway. It was the Russian market above all
that held its own, together with the Polish market, even if prospects for 2009 do not seem to be all that
encouraging at the moment.

After 2005, 2008 was the first year when figures for Italian exports of machinery and technology for
the stone industry began to fall against the previous year. Before that, in fact, the annual figures to all
the countries that import Italian products increased every year, at least for the machinery items that can
certainly be related to the specific work of processing, cutting and polishing and finishing of marble and
similar natural stones. Even though the absolute figures for 2008 remained decidedly higher than 2004
(since they were affected by what happened in the following years that increased the quantities and values
of the items in question), the percentage comparison in terms of value was negative. This proves the
overall difficulties facing the entire international stone industry, in addition to the growing competition
facing the national machinery industry on foreign markets from areas with lower production costs that
are consequently particularly menacing at times of weak economies.

The quantities, for what they are worth, remained very positive yet the values that count more as an indicator
of trends and activities at times like this, recorded a -1.53% decrease on 2007. This was despite
the almost 457 million Euros of total exports (considering only exports that can be identified without
interference from other industries). It is however a very respectable turnover, especially at a time when
traditional buyers of Italian machinery are having to deal with the crisis and in some cases are starting
to become independent for a significant part of their own markets.
It is appropriate at this point to look at trade with the most important countries for Italian technology,
firstly in general and secondly by individual categories of machinery, bearing in mind that in the first of
the tables that follow the data is general for all three categories of machinery taken into consideration.
First we shall examine the countries dividing them into three large categories: those for which the value
and quantity data recorded decreases, those for which the value and quantity data recorded increases
and those for which the value and quantity data recorded both decreases and increases, choosing based
on quality and specific types.

In Table 11 we first selected the important countries that reduced their imports from Italy, then those
with a difference of just one percentage point between volume and value and then those that actually
increased their imports from Italy. First let’s look at the second category of countries where it is evident
that the details of the different types of machines alone can give an interpretation to the trends. We shall
limit our reading to two countries, with opposite trends that are also particularly important for the size
of their domestic markets as well as the stone market in general: Germany and China.

The two countries have obviously followed different needs and strategies, despite some common choices.
The first preferred to continue to import cutting machinery, albeit at a lower value, with a fairly even
reduction in the other items. The second decided to work in the opposite way, opting for basic processing
machinery, and in very limited quantities, despite the striking annual percentage variations. In fact,
the overall values of the two countries are very similar yet the production structure is very different as
too are the individual figures that emphasise the different relationship that Italy and its stone technology
has with the two nations. It is difficult to speak about prospects but obviously, aware of the speed
at which the domestic production of machinery is developing in China (benefitting from the discoveries
and developments of Italian and other producers) each and every change and development in the
local picture should be closely followed since exports of Chinese technology have already increased
in the Far Eastern area and other areas too and have become a common choice for certain categories
of products. There is a very different scenario in Germany where there is simply a lower growth in the
industry in general that is anyway a market used to the high quality of Italian products and the precision
of the results that they can offer. Looking at the items more closely we shall see how this overall result
came about.
It is more interesting, however, to read the data for the countries that recorded decreases in both values
and volumes, showing a decisive reduction, sometimes even too sudden, on 2007. The prime example
is the United States that is an important partner in the main secondary industry to the stone industry
too. US imports fell for all types of Italian machinery, including the lightweight but sophisticated tools
machinery that in the last few years had sustained and characterised Italian export trends to the country
and are still today the major item in the table.

The annual decrease is high and reflects the trends of the stone industry on the home market. It is likely
to grow even more since the second country on the table in 2008, in terms of size, is Spain. Spain’s
stone industry is also experiencing difficulties in exports and domestic consumption as too is Turkey,
even though the latter’s exports of natural stone, including finished products, were hit a lot less than
Italy’s or Spain’s

The machinery data for the processing, polishing and finishing of natural stone remained positive, at
least in terms of value, but the other items were severely down on 2007, with a percentage reduction
of almost 50%. Iran too significantly reduced its purchases from Italy as did many other countries as
shown in Table 11.
Table 11, however, also shows positive situations where countries recorded growth both in terms of
volume and value that mirror the national stone industries that are still growing or at least are actively
trying to grow. Finding the North African countries on the list together with Egypt, that is really making
great progress fast on the international stone markets, merely confirms what has been discussed above
yet Canada is a newer entry and a positive one too. Together with Russia, the Arab countries and Angola,
Canada obviously wants not only to expand in the industry but to expand on an appropriate level,
suited to the quality of its materials that are well-known and appreciated on the markets.
A more in-depth reading of the data involves looking at where the cutting machinery and tool machinery
were actually sold, that is which countries recorded increases or decreases in the major items of
Italian technology exports. Here below are two tables showing the countries that imported machinery to
the value of over two million euro and recorded either increases or decreases on 2007. Of note is the fact
that in the first table for cutting machinery, the countries where there was coherence between volumes
and values are not listed. In the first part of the table there is the USA, followed again by Spain and then
Greece and Iran, ahead of Turkey.



And it comes as no surprise that in the second part of the table, showing the countries that are growing,
India leads, followed again by Egypt and then by the other producers seen in the general table.
Again in the case of tools machinery, the United States leads the table for percentage decreases, yet
here there is a surprise, India, that comes a close second rather than appearing as a growing country in
the third part of the table. One country that remains important however is Egypt where quantities rose
although values remained more or less stable.



One country that is growing fast, on the other hand, is Russia. Russia recorded positive figures in all
the specific imports items and almost doubled its technology acquisitions compared to 2007. The same
applies to the North African countries and for many Middle and Far Eastern countries too.
All in all, 2008 was a difficult year that took the brunt of the investment difficulties of some important
national stone industries yet in general was able to profit from the growth opportunities of other producers
with whom relations were lively and above all which show prospects for the future. Inevitably,
every year it becomes more difficult for countries to maintain their hard-earned positions, yet the desire
of many countries to promote their own resources as best as they can still offers good room for growth.
This is helped by the skill and desire to move forward and renew that have always characterised this
specific branch of Italian industry.

Given the complex overall scenario, it is inevitable that we look at the stone industry in relation to the
international crisis to try to interpret what has happened over the past few months in terms of future
prospects and possible strategies for improvement.
We have seen that the major markets for the stone industry have been inevitably and seriously affected
by the crisis (be it from North America or elsewhere) and its subsequent developments when it moved
from the financial world to the real economy and the people. There had already been significant signs
of the US real estate crisis in 2007 and this was discussed in last year’s report since it had already affected
the stone industry too. In 2008, as we have seen, the crisis exploded and spread worldwide. It
even damaged some of the fundamentals of trade and industrial production in the stone industry and
other much larger and crowded industries and gradually burst a series of other bubbles too. In the stone
industry a negative trend concerning some markets that did however remain important, strong markets
(still a limited number) then affected other markets. Consequently, the latter, although experiencing
another year of expansion compared to the previous year, recorded negative figures in 2008 and even
in the beginning of 2009.
We have seen that some areas recorded positive final figures for the use of materials which is positive
for the international trade of both raw materials and finished products. But in 2009 the trend slowed
down, in some cases suddenly, giving rise to the same uncertainties in the stone industry that the building
industry, and others deriving from it, have experienced and are still experiencing. Nevertheless there
are obviously and fortunately still very active markets that keep prospects as well as profits and daily
industrial activity positive. What has changed, however, is the geography of demand and consequently
supply flows and the division of production tasks as well and we have already seen how the process is
advancing. In some fundamental markets for the stone industry the gap is widening between the high
profile, personalised demand and the usual more standardised, serialised demand that is increasingly
in the hands of low-cost producers with large production volume capacity. Moreover, even the latter
demand segment is often decreasing even though exports from countries like China still do not really
seem to feel the effects. Important countries are experiencing a very delicate and uncertain period, not
only as regards imports but also on their home markets and this may well turn into a destabilising trend
for other producers too. In such a difficult, uncertain phase, triggering off an even fiercer price war
would not be of benefit to anyone yet it is very likely. Moreover, relations between the various markets
are so close now and the “osmosis” between differing situations so frequent that what happens to one is
unlikely not to have repercussions on the partners and markets of the suppliers and consumers.
After so much discussion and analysis, what can be said about the prospects for the near and medium
future? And to what extent do they involve such a tangible industry as the stone industry? Obviously
this question does not apply only to the stone industry but to a fair extent to all manufacturing industries.
Many emphasise in fact how the actual origins of this crisis and its developments are objectively
re-evaluating the role of the material production of goods, significantly reducing the strength and
weight of the intangible economy, in its financial and above all speculative aspects. The role of services
and research is obviously not questioned, it is the prevalence and excessive dimension of speculative
mediation in relation to the real production of goods and material wealth at the base of every company
that is. Without going into discussions that do not directly concern the stone industry and this report it is
worth noting that an industry like the stone industry whose raw material is one of the oldest in the world
and is turned into sophisticated products for a wide number of uses thanks to physical and technical
processes with a high degree of creativity obviously fits well into the panorama of reappraised industries.
Even more so because of its area of uses: building, living in the town and at home, decorating our
environment with beautiful objects and works or art that may be lasting or ephemeral, honouring the
memory of those passed away, and so on. It is an industry that can be found in all countries and all national
and local histories in the world. Its consolidated international dimension increases every year and
even in 2008 it was at a level that is difficult to find in other industries, despite the sufferance of some
countries seen in the analysis above. One new feature we think should be remembered is the role of
Egypt as a marble supplier to China even though it is not yet the leading supplier as it comes second to
Turkey that has been China’s partner for much longer and has a much more consolidated and structured
industry. This is in our opinion the newest feature and potentially the most significant in the international
scenario for 2008, showing prospects that are a little different from the more traditional ones of
the other suppliers. It will be interesting to see the future developments, also in the light of the wider
relations that the two countries maintain, both between themselves and with other leading countries in
the industry and even more so in the light of the next developments in the general crisis, remembering
that in 2008 it may be said that China remained the only large consumer and producer of stone to have
recorded a relatively positive year, together with India.
What is the risk that the industry remains trapped in a much more significant general crisis than previous
ones over the next few years? It is very likely that 2009, all in all considering the countries with
a significant international dimension, will conclude with a negative balance on 2008 both for total
uses and imports-exports. As regards the general crisis, it is difficult to foresee what is about to happen
although many believe that “the worst is over”. There are not yet enough objective signs though to
breathe a sigh of relief and hence this sounds more like a phrase to ward off bad luck than the result of
a cold rational assessment of real data. As Bill Emmott states with his British understatement, “at the
moment the good news is that things are going badly more slowly”. The real question mark, however,
actually concerns the post-crisis scenario, what the role and reference markets will be once it is all over,
and the “lessons on the future” as a well-known Italian financial newspaper wrote, are open to different
opinions and lively and interesting debate. In the meantime the real tangible risk for the companies that
are currently facing difficulties on a daily basis is that their efforts will be in vain and their prospects
nullified after the crisis when they could be so precious to the recovery and development of countries
and industries, ours included. The risk is the objective individual waste of large quantities of resources
and skills required today and even more so tomorrow. First and foremost human resources that could be
distanced from the industry to swarm to other industries as well as economic, material and intellectual
resources, capital, research, creativity and innovation capacity that it will be difficult for the industry
to gain back with the level of experience previously acquired when the recovery kicks in. How many
companies will resist the reduction in trade revealed in the statistics? And how many will resist the
changes in the material and product flows and skills required? In other words will these changes lead to
the impoverishment or recovery of the stone industry and other industries important for the growth and
development of many countries?
Another potential risk for the future of our industry is the renewal of asymmetric competition (that
suffers from commercial distortions too) that is possible in the stone industry as in other industries.
We have already seen the revival of nominal attacks on some natural stone materials accused of being
dangerous for the environment and people. It will be up to the experts to decide to what extent, if any,
this is true. We do not think these attacks will lead anywhere. It is however a symptom of unscrupulous
and unfair competition that will have to be dealt with realistically and consistently, with an awareness
of the consequences and possible duplications as globalisation is changing in the stone industry too,
adopting new orders in some cases or even old systems in others.
And in these potential changes in the scenario that are inside and outside the stone industry, what will
happen to demand? Will the fundamental markets in the industry hold their ground? We have seen again
that the main international consumers remain essentially faithful to natural stone materials and products
despite the difficulties or maybe this is due to some market pressures. The products do feel the affects
of reduced spending power, the external situations that influence the availability of wealth and demand
in general, but they are ready to start afresh as soon as there is a sign of recovery. Hence at the moment
they are taking refuge in privileged niches of use that recognise natural stone’s intrinsic worth yet there
remains the possibility of their use being extended to other brackets too. Who though will be more
ready to start afresh and ride the recovery from the first signs?
Many experts maintain that who is able to deal with the crisis in the right way, rather than being trapped
by it, will come out on top. Those who have investment capacity for research and innovation, those who
have a sound financial situation and pool of clients, payers first and foremost, those who are not dependent
on the banks for their running credit but have their own cash reserves and better comply to certain
criteria of company solidity can come out of the recession stronger and ahead of the others, ready to
take up the opportunities that the recovery will surely offer, in the end. This criteria is valid not only on
an international level but also in production districts, countries, areas that are less ephemeral and more
deeply involved with the basic necessities of people and the community. Once again in this case the
natural stone industry may be in the front line, ready to renew its leadership, its figures and production
rates as well as the creation of wealth.

All data in italics are estimates
*: India: data referred only to marble and granite

Tav. C1 TOTAL MARBLE -EXPORT

Tav. C2 TOTAL GRANITE - EXPORT

Tav. C3 - TOTAL RAW MATERIALS - EXPORT

Tav. C4 - TOTAL PROCESSED MATERIALS, BLOCKS EQUIVALENT - EXPORT