The international stone industry is a sector enjoying growth all over the world -- offering new opportunities for development, but also updating on its well-established markets. This is the “snapshot†of the international stone field that was presented at Marmomacc 2004 in Verona, Italy.
A report on the world stone industry was presented in Verona by Carlo Montani, who stated that the industry has expanded rapidly since the early 1990s. Production has grown by 7.3% per year, and trade has increased by 8.7%, according to Montani. Looking at the recent past, totals in 2003 grew 11.2% in terms of production and 16.5% in terms of trade over the previous year. Production has settled at more than 150 million tons, gross of quarry offcuts and processing waste, while consumption came to about 8.8 billion square feet (820 million square meters), generating overall turnover of $40 billion.