July 08, 2005 | Recommend this Article »

26th Carrara Marmotec

Marble and more

The 26th Marmotec took place in Carrara from 1-4 June 2005. The basic mood in the industry: cautious optimism.

Marmotec has its permanent place in the diary of events of the Italian and international natural stone industry. The 2005 event offered a large supporting programme with presentations and congresses on a wide range of themes in addition to the exhibition. The programme included talks by the winners of the annual Marble Architecture Award (MAA). The annual statistics report for the Italian natural stone industry »Stone Sector 2004«, which is compiled by IMM Carrara on behalf of the Italian Foreign Ministry, was also published in time for the exhibition.

The figures give cause for cautious optimism: Exports rose by 8.4 % in quantity (3.3 % in value) over the previous year. The import volume in the same period increased by 11 % in quantity and value. Although the figures still do not reach the comparative values of 2003, IMM President Giancarlo Tonini is confident: »It is important that the downward trend has been stopped. Things are improving again.«

Particularly granite exports contributed towards the favourable trend, whereas marble and slate are still causing problems. The European market seems to have recovered from its crisis, especially for granite, marble and travertine. On the other hand, the strong euro adversely affects export possibilities to the USA and Middle East. Here the growing competition from Chinese suppliers is increasing the pressure on the Italian exporters.
The export of tools and machinery makes a major contribution to the industry’s positive results. Italian quality is still highly coveted throughout the world, even though turnover losses are registered on the Chinese market.

The frequently visited special show »Idea e Prodotto« presented 2,000 square metres of marble at its best. As every year, this part of the exhibition gave smaller companies a forum for presenting craft and artistic processing of this material. In addition to 30 companies from the region, the Carrara Academy of Art and the Piedro Tacca School of Sculpturing took part in the show and presented innovative techniques, such as the combination of marble with other materials like steel and glass.