Norway: China a growing market

The extraction of natural stone (mainly Labrador) in Norway reached new records in 2002 and 2003 with 550,000 t each year. The production of rough stone has risen continuously since the start of the nineties. As in Sweden and Finland, the largest part of the production is exported in the form of raw materials. These exports were 326,000 t and 348,000 t respectively in 2002 and 2003, which are also new records.

The key customers are Italy and ?C to a heavily increasing extent ?C China. These figures contrast with exports of finished goods from Norwegian production, which have declined recently. Exports of finished goods were 14,000 t in 2003, compared with 26,000 t in each of the two previous years. On the other hand, imports of natural stone finished goods have more than doubled within a decade. According to the Italian industry report »Stone 2004«, 74,000 t of finished goods were imported in each of the years 2002 and 2003.

Natural stone consumption in Norway itself has also more than doubled within a decade and reached a volume of 195,000 t in 2003. The natural stone market has grown more strongly in Norway than in any other Scandinavian country.