February 09, 2004 | Recommend this Article »

Doing well in Finland

Finland is a country of hard stones: Kuru Grey, Balmoral Red or Baltic Brown are three well-known representatives that are very popular internationally.
Almost 90 per cent of total Finnish natural stone production is exported. The total current turnover is some 200 million euro a year and the annual production is almost 400,000 tons. Finland has a share of 1.5 per cent of worldwide natural stone trade, but 4 per cent for raw granite.
Despite the weak economic activity in Europe, the Finnish industry has not only succeeded in maintaining its position on the international market, but has even grown.
Exports of raw blocks in 2002 were around 300,000 tons with a value of about 70 million euro, but imports of raw blocks totalled only 8 million euro. So Finland lives mainly from exports of raw goods.

The major European customers for stones from Finland are Italy with around 100,000 tons, Spain (38,000) and Poland (26,000). Germany currently buys 14,000 tons. The top Asian customer is China with 65,000 tons, followed by Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. Turkey and the Baltic States are also buying more and more stone from Finland.
Whereas other European producers are suffering from the price pressure of Chinese exports, few complaints are heard in Finland about competition from the Far East. On the contrary, China has developed into one of the most important trading partners for Finnish natural stones within a few years.
The prospects for the Finnish natural stone industry are steady. In the USA, for example, Baltic Brown is currently one of the top 5 materials.