Despite the slowdown seen in the second half of the year, for the Italian stone technology industry 2023 ended with essential confirmation of the excellent growth rates of the two previous years.
According to the statistics processed by the Confindustria Marmomacchine Studies Center, last year the foreign sales of machines, installations, equipment and tools for extracting and processing natural stones in fact amounted to 1,134.2 million euros (accounting for 75% of total sector revenue), up 0.2% from 2022.
Again in 2023 the top destination for stone technologies Made in Italy was the US, with 176.6 million in imports, down 15.1% from record sales in 2022. Spain was in second place, with purchases totaling 66.1 million (down 0.4%), followed by Turkey showing heavy growth (+27.2%, 64.3 million). There was a definite upturn in exports to Canada (+26.9%, fourth buyer 60 million) while there were downturns on two historic markets: Germany (-7.7%, fifth with 56.5 million) and India (-10%, sixth with 51.6 million).
On the provisional front, the scenario delineated by the Confindustria Marmomacchine Studies Center unfortunately indicates that the downturn in exports in the last months of 2023 should intensify in the first half of this year – mainly due to a big decrease in demand in the USA, after heavy investments in recent years – and then gradually rebound in the second half.
Source: www.marmomacchineinternational.com
