Jeffrey Matthews is a well known professional with 38 years of experience in the natural stone industry. An independent consultant he has managed more than 100 important architectural/construction support programs. He has been President of the Marble Institute of America. This interview was done on May 2012.
He can be contacted at stonetrade@bellsouth.net.
Paul Daniel
Compared with neighbours Turkey and Greece, Bulgaria´s dimension stone industry is small. Vratsa limestone however has remained popular for a long time. The growth of private enterprise since 1989 has seen imports grow, and the market further developed with accession to the EU in 2007. But the past 2 years have not been easy.
For most of the natural stone industry Cataluña is usually considered a market and few people even within the industry think of it as a significant stone producing centre or one which has its own local stones. A visitor to the elegant city of Barcelona is immediately conscious of the widespread use of a wide variety of natural stone in all kinds of applications, be they wall claddings, interiors, or public squares. But yes, there is a local industry too and there are actually some local stones with possibilities not only in the local market but also in the wider world.
The legal obstacles to be overcome before opening a natural stone quarry in Russia are explained. Investments will not be forthcoming without a resolution to these problems. Meanwhile the country´s stone processing factories have to rely to an increasing extent on imports. In this report*, I.O. Sinelnikov & O.B. Sinelnikov propose some practical solutions. (*This article was translated from the Russian original in Gorny Zhurnal 2009, No.3, and appears here by kind permission of the publishers and authors.)
The Republic of Serbia has limited domestic resources of dimension / decorative stone in volume terms. Below, the Chairman of the Stone Association of Serbia, Zoran Djajic, and the Publisher of KAMEN trade journal, Zika Milovanovic, summarize current knowledge of the sector.
Everyone who visits the Crimea falls in love with the region. Impressions of this virtual paradise are, in the author´s opinion, based on three main constituents - the warm, bright blue sea, the picturesque mountains, and the famous white stone which is still quarried today.
This text was elaborated by geologist Cid Chiodi Filho (cdchiodi@terra.com.br), Kistemann & Chiodi Assessoria e Projetos. The primary data about exports were obtained starting from consultation to the Base ALICE of MDIC (Ministry of Development, Industry and External Trade)
Worldwide, Brazil is the 5th largest country in territorial extent and the 6th in population. Endowed with vast natural resources, Brazil is one of the ten largest mineral producers of the world.
During the last 15 years, while the Indian granite industry has gone through a strong growth period with a major expansion in extraction of blocks and in the production of slabs and tiles, another less known segment has also been growing steadily and increasing its market share in the world markets. We refer to the Indian gravestone manufacturing industry is still growing steadily. The important and interesting point to note is that this industry and its products have no market at all in India; it is a 100% export oriented industry.
