In terms of value, the volume of Chinese foreign trade in natural stone total imports and exports is the number 2 on the international market after Italy.
Turkey clearly leads the suppliers of rough marble material, followed by Iran, Italy, Spain, India, Greece and Egypt. The main import goods are white, cream and coloured types of marble especially yellow. China itself has a shortage of such deposits, plus the colour yellow plays a very important role in China for cultural history reasons.
India is by far the biggest supplier of granite to China, but Brazil is also a key trading partner for Chinese imports. The most prominent of the European countries are Finland and Norway with their largely exclusive types of granite.
China also needs large amounts of natural stone in the future. Experts expect imports to increase by 15% a year in the coming period. The reasons for this are the continuing strong growth in the building sector, but also China’s accession to the WTO and the associated reduction of import duties.
The largest demand for imported natural stones is still in the centers, especially in those on or near the east coast, for example, in Beijing, Quingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xiamen and Guangzhou
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