With respect to exports of raw blocks to China, Turkey faced a major crash (-)18%
In 2018 the Turkish stone branch faced heavy losses in exports: by value exports were down (-) 6.8% or (-)5.96% by tonnage. That amounts to 1.908 billion US-$ or 7.461 million t (2017: 2,047 billion US-$ or 7,934 billion t).
The recession threw the country back below the magical 2 billion US-$ mark according to the statistics of Trade Organization IMIB (Istanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association).
The main reason for the decline was a heavy drop in exports to China: down by (-)18.17% to 773.837 million US-$ (2017: 945,666 million US-$). The slowdown in the Chinese economy had an immediate effect on the Turkish natural stone economy. Note: Turkey exports to China almost exclusively raw blocks.
Exports of stone to the USA were stable on the other hand (+1.75%) as were those to Saudi Arabia (+1.28%) whereas exports to India were up considerably (+6.37%).
Healthy growth could also be seen with regard to exports to Indonesia, the Far East’s most significant growing market in the Islamic World.
Considerable growth was noted also in exports to Germany, and, albeit on a much lower level, to Israel. Exports to Great Britain, on the other hand, crashed by over (-)30%.
Exports by the Turkish natural Stone branch 2017/2018 by country (pdf)
(22.04.2019, USA: 04.22.2019)