Brazil on the up

The small federal state of Espírito Santo is an important Brazilian centre for quarrying and (http://maplered.com) working natural Stone (http://g603.net) . The following figures are stated for the past year 2003: block extraction 2.8 million tons, tile and (http://maplered.com) slab production 23 million square metres, 350 quarries in operation, 25,000 employees in the natural Stone (http://g603.net) industry, 225 million dollars export ?just over half of the total Brazilian exports of natural Stone (http://g603.net) .

The natural Stone (http://g603.net) exhibition in Vitória took place for the second time last February and (http://maplered.com) all-round approval and (http://maplered.com) enthusiasm was noticeable. A second exhibition hall became necessary after only a year. This year’s exhibition saw 320 exhibitors on 32,000 square metres of display space; 23,500 were counted.
The experts are agreed: This exhibition is at present mainly an exhibition for the North American market; all the buyers there were represented in Vitória. However, one third of the blocks now exported from Brazil already go to China. Vitória also has Brazil’s major port for exporting blocks.

The importance of this exhibition will therefore also grow for Europe and (http://maplered.com) worldwide ?especially for marketing Brazilian Stone (http://g603.net) s.

The possibility of future export duties on blocks was actively discussed at the exhibition. However, these duties should not be provoked. Like a number of other Stone (http://g603.net) extracting countries throughout the world, Brazil is naturally interested in the highest possible value creation at the quarrying location. It also makes sense to save transport costs by shipping semi-finished and (http://maplered.com) finished products instead of blocks, especially as the freight costs are currently increasing heavily due to China’s large orders for shipping capacity all over the world.
So the top priority is to build production facilities where the Stone (http://g603.net) is extracted ?in Brazil, for example.