Although many of the nation’s businesses are expecting some level of decline this year, the U.S. stone industry appears to be a notable exception to this trend, according to an exclusive Stone World survey of stone producers throughout the country. Spurred by increased consumer awareness, stone use per capita in the U.S. has steadily risen --as much as 45% over the past five years, according to some reports --and stone fabricators expect that this trend will continue despite the overall economic situation.
Of those who responded to the Stone World survey, which was sent primarily to stone fabricators, a healthy 62.0% expected the stone market to increase in 2002. Only a small amount of respondents, 11.3%, predicted a decrease for the year, and 26.8% said that business would hold steady.