Granite and stone industry exports may dwindle this year

Granites and stones exports may dwindle this year due to closure of quarrying activities, restrictive policies and slowdown in the international market, the All-India Granites and Stones Association said today.
"Actually the growth was 20-25 per cent every year. Now there is a need for proper support from government. This year will be bad. It is not only because of the policy, but in general there is a slowdown in the international market," All India Granites and Stones Association President J B Surana told reporters here.
He also announced the STONA-2014, the 11th International Granites and Stone Fair to be held in the city from February 12-15.

Closure of big quarrying units is also one of the big challenges that the industry is facing, he added.
Surana said "Initially our exports of natural stones were Rs 50 crore, when we launched our first edition of Stona in 1987. Today with our 11th edition we have reached the export figure of Rs 9,000 crore by the end of 2013."
"We had expected much more export but with the closure of many quarrying activities and due to restrictive policy we could not reach our expected targets of Rs 12,000 crore," he added.
Stating that the market share of the industry has been taken over by China, he said: "One industry itself there (in China) is capable of processing as equal to 20-25 industries in India."

"....Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Singapore, Hong kong all these markets we have lost, now we are mainly concentrating more on USA and Europe. This time we may expect some business from African countries also; we feel that if we maintain present standard, it would be a big achievement for us," he added.