Marmomac Verona, the showcase for an Italian industrial colossus

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 27 - The marble technologies production chain represents a colossus of Italian industry, with 3,200 companies and 34,000 employees generating a turnover of 4.5 billion euro a year.
    The industry has an annual export value of 3.2 billion euro and an annual trade surplus of nearly 2.8 billion euro.
    These figures from the Study Centre of Confindustria, Italy's main association representing manufacturing and service companies, are confirmation that the sector represents one of Italy's main excellences - and Marmomac, the exhibition currently underway at the Verona Exhibition Centre, is one of its flagship brands.
    In the first half of 2023, Italian exports (including materials and related extraction and processing technologies) remained at the record levels seen in 2022 (+0.1%), reaching 1,566.3 million euro.
    Last year, the sector set the record for foreign sales, with 3.267 billion euro (+8.9% over 2021, +11.8% compared to 2019 levels).
    In detail, data for the six-month period show substantial stability for Italian exports of marble, travertine, granite and natural stone in general, which remained slightly below the values for the period January-June 2022 (-2.6%), reaching 1,010 million euro.
    In the whole of 2022, total sales, including both rough and processed products, grew by 13.1% year-on-year to reach an all-time high of 2,131.8 million euro.
    The average price of Italian marble and stone products exported in the first half of this year reached 962.26 euro/tonne, an increase of 11.6%.
    The leading export markets for blocks were China - the leading market for Italian stone - at 91.3 million euro and India - the second biggest buyer - at 24.3 million euro.
    The main destinations for slabs and processed products were the United States in first place at 227.6 million euro, a value equal to more than a quarter of total Italian exports, followed by Germany in second place at 74.2 million and France in third place at 56.1 million.
    Good signals also came from the Swiss market (the fourth buyer at 51.6 million), and above all from the United Arab Emirates, whose purchases of Italian manufactured products reached 32.5 million euros. (ANSA).