Izmir fair… We are talking about the sector with a friend of mine whose quality, knowledge and communication I believe in very much. The conversation turns to the Xiamen Fair. “Did you expect the fair to go like this?” I ask.
There is an interesting response: I didn’t expect it, I knew it would go like this!
I am surprised, I say, “What do you mean?”
He starts to tell:
“About 10-15 days before the fair, I was chatting with a Chinese customer. We ended up talking about Xiamen. ‘The Chinese will not even stop by the Turkish and Greek stands to say hello. Why? Look, we are friends with you. But the foundation of this friendship is based on trade. The basis of trade is mutual profitability. Greece and Turkey’s trade moves are causing us losses. Greek companies are constantly raising their prices and reducing our profit margin. The Turks, on the other hand, lower their prices, so our goods in stock lose their value. In the end, both countries are making us lose money. The message of this will be given in Xiamen. I was surprised too, but the picture in Xiamen was exactly as he described…”
Yes, their story is interesting. But this is the picture from the Chinese perspective. And now they have started to bring in different players and resources that were not mentioned in the natural stone sector before. You will find China’s import statistics in our magazine. While the amount of products sold to China by all the strong producers of the natural stone market, from Italy to Greece, from Turkey to Brazil, is decreasing, you will see the rise of Cambodia.
While we are talking about inflation, rising costs, unapproved licenses and bureaucratic problems, we should read these new messages in the sector well!
What do you think, wouldn’t it be nice to listen to the other side of the table?
