Taking a glance at Brazil’s annual statistics, this trend initially doesn’t seem to make sense. Exports of Brazilian granite to the U.S. (the nation’s top export target for stone) reached an all-time high of more than $538 million last year, exceeding the previous year’s total by over 35%. So how is it that individual producers didn’t enjoy that same growth level?

The answer is simple: the playing field of Brazilian granite slab producers is more crowded than ever before. Every time I go to Vitória, it seems there are a dozen more new stoneworking plants in the region than the previous year. And I mean true, state-of-the-art stoneworking plants - with advanced processes and the latest generation of stoneworking technology from Italy.