December 2000

[ archives ]

Germany: Natural stone for new airports	European standard for natural stone about to be passed	Greece and Switzerland the leaders in Europe	Stone+tec 2001 - The world range of natural stone and top technology	Your market at the heart of Europe!

		Germany: Natural stone for new airports
		Germany is one of the most important sales markets for international trade in natural stone. Over 40 million square meters of natural stone were used here in 1999. This corresponds to a share of a good 11 percent of total world trade, which puts Germany in third place in the international ranking list after China and Italy. Last year Germany imported over two million tons of stones from all over the world. Besides raw blocks, the main demand was for semi-finished and finished products. The sales market will not stagnate in the future either, as a German government initiative plans to double the capacity of German airports in the next 15 years. This means that several large projects for natural stone facade cladding and floor coverings will be placed on the market in Germany in the coming years, with an estimated natural stone consumption of over 100,000 square meters.
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		European standard for natural stone about to be passed
		The European product standard for natural stone - CEN TC 246 - was passed to the professional associations for final revision in summer this year. The standard can take effect after this revision and will then cover the natural stone products of raw blocks, rough slabs, facade and floor slabs, standard tiles and cut stones. Once CEN TC 246 comes into force, it will be compulsory to attach the CE marking to these natural stone products in Europe.
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		Greece and Switzerland the leaders in Europe
		The per head consumption of marble and granite is appreciably larger in some European countries than in the »natural stone supercountries Germany and Italy«. According to recently published statistics, Greece and Switzerland clearly lead the world in natural stone consumption per inhabitant. Expressed as a slab thickness of two centimeters, almost 1.5 square meters of natural stone per head were laid or installed in these two countries last year. The statistics show a consumption of just over one square meter for three other European countries. The German consumption of a little more than 0.5 square meter per head looks really modest by comparison. However, other countries in Europe also have similar and in some cases even lower figures. Finland, France and Holland consume barely 0.5 square meter of stone per person. So there is still sufficient potential in the heart of Europe.
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		Stone+tec 2001 - The world range of natural stone and top technology
		Following the dispatch of the exhibitor documentation for Stone+tec 2001, which will take place in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 24 - 27 May 2001, preparations are now in full swing. On the basis of the registration figures, Roland Kast, Stone+tec Project Manager at NürnbergMesse, already sees another increase in interested exhibitors compared with two years ago: "We expect over 1,200 exhibitors at Stone+tec 2001, for which a gross display area of some 90,000 square meters is available on our extended exhibition site." Stone+tec 2001 as global natural stone event is also the aim of the 35 foreign representatives of NürnbergMesse, who advise potential exhibitors and visitors intensively on the ground in the respective countries. There were already over 700 exhibitors (61%) and 10,600 trade visitors (23%) from 88 countries outside Germany at »Stone+tec 99«. 462 exhibitors and some 35,500 trade visitors took part from Germany itself. www.stone-tec.com
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		Your market at the heart of Europe!
		Competence for your target group: Central Europe is one of the most important consumer markets in the world for semi-finished and finished products of natural stone and ceramic. Stone has been appreciated as an outstanding building material since time immemorial; this material with its durability, timeless beauty and good ecological rating is more topical than ever. With the combination STEIN und FLIESEN UND PLATTEN , you reach over 20,000 specialist stone processing firms in the German-speaking regions. Ask for the combined 2001 price list from: Nicole Bergmann (++33 - 1) 44 78 87 78, Fax (++33 - 1) 44 78 87 79, Direktion@edial.fr; Gerhard Layer, Tel. (++49-89) 43 60 05 - 149, Fax (++49-89) 4 36 11 61, layer@callwey.de

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