It was like proceeding in a dark tunnel without knowing when we would see the light again. Especially in the first days of the nightmare. Because of the pandemic, Turkey’s export to China, its biggest buyer, had almost stopped and the first four months of 2020 had been such a nightmare. What did the sector do in this period then? How did it survive? The processed product market has undoubtedly played an important role in these positive statistics. Compared to the other major natural stone producers of the world, Turkey shone out as the only country which managed to increase its processed product market. Let’s analyze it and compare Turkey’s performance in 2020 with the other major players in the market.
We start with Turkey which concluded the year 2020 with a positive margin compared to the year 2019. The Turkish natural stone sector achieved an increase of 11.59% in the processed product sale and its income increased by 6.7%. Let’s pass to Italy. The “boot” had problematic months in 2020. Compared to its figures from 2019, there is a 15% – loss in the processed marble sale. Italy is the country receiving the worst impact from the pandemic in this market.
And China… Especially in the first four months of 2020, it was the country that was suffering the most. This situation resulted in a decrease in marble export. The total amount of stones China sold decreased by 13.55%, and its income loss was 3.59%. After analyzing statistics from the biggest three natural stone-producing countries of the world, we can take a look at the other important players. Greece concluded 2020 with a decrease of 14.48% in processed marble. Although the amount of stone sold decreased only by 2.72%, the income loss was 14.48%, which revealed the decrease in their unit prices.
Portugal’s performance in 2020 was also quite surprising. Compared to the previous year, Portugal’s total amount of sales increased by 14%, but its export income decreased by 10.81%. And Spain suffered a sharp decrease of 21.29% in sales. However, their income loss was only 13.93%. In the upcoming period, we shall see if Turkey’s 2020 performance in the processed product market, which gave it an advantage against its rivals, will continue in 2021.
