In the past few issues of Stone World, I've written quite a bit about quality issues within the stone industry. In particular, I commented on the need for industry standards within the stone fabrication sector. But the need for quality is certainly not limited to fabrication shops. Stone is being imported to the U.S. from more countries than ever before, and from more sources than ever. And in some cases, the quality of the materials being shipped to the U.S. are not meeting the standards that go along with a premium building material such as stone.
Every August issue of Stone World includes a report on stone from India, and this year, we decided to sit down and speak with some of the major importers of Indian stone from a decade ago to discuss the evolution of this stone sector. To be perfectly honest, their comments surprised me a great deal. A decade ago, producers of stone within India were being heralded for their increased quality - due in large part to their investment in advanced European stoneworking machinery. Today, however, several veteran suppliers of Indian stone are concerned that many producers within India are exporting substandard material to the U.S.