The coronavirus has become this year’s worry, much as the U.S.-China trade war was in 2019. Stocks slip, large firms announce fallen business activity, and all trade sectors related to China cite an important negative impact from the virus outbreak. Marble industry, and especially in countries highly dependent on China’s imports, has been hit severely. The postponement of Xiamen International Stone Fair led to great expenses lost for companies that planned to exhibit their products. Time is a great healer but marble trade will need a really long period of time in order to return to each previous state, as people in the industry claim.
Greece is one of the countries whose marble trade is highly related to China, with more than 50% of its production exported to China in 2019. Moreover, there are companies that export almost 90% of their production to the “red dragon”, mostly raw marble in blocks and slabs. According to the President of the Greek Association of Marble Companies in Macedonia and Thrace, Mrs Julie Chaida, “everyone is cautious. We are receiving messages that businesses and factories in China have been closed, which may have a similar effect on marbles”. And she adds: “In January, we had no immediate negative consequences, while in February there were some problems that were not ultimately significant. However, concerns are being raised in March, especially if China’s air services to Europe remain suspended and economic and construction activity in the Asian country not thawed out”. Her personal opinion though, is that March will be a difficult month and the situation will start to be normalized by the beginning of April.
The coronavirus has also affected countries directly. Italy is now facing a rather difficult situation, with many provinces in the Italian north to be put under quarantine. The quarries and the majority of the companies plants and headquarters are located in this specific area of the country and consequently the negative effects are more than obvious. A few days ago, Mr. Marco de Angelis, the President of Confindustria Marmomacchine, released an announcement highlighting the need “to balance the situation in order to proceed to a rapid normalization, allowing all member companies to continue all the activities now blocked and put companies and workers in all territories in a position to work in a profitable and safe way for the benefit of the country, avoiding to spread on the media an image and a perception, especially towards international partners, which risks a high damage to the “Made in Italy” brand”. Addressing to the country’s leadership, he said that “a prolonged state of quarantine of the whole country towards the rest of the world can only have dramatic repercussions for the entire sector, which is already affected by a general slowdown”.
