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Stagnation in Spains natural stone sector despite being a world leader |
Addtime:2008-5-14 |
Concerning Report published by the Natural Stone Market Monitoring Centre OMPN
According to the Natural Stone Sector Report 2006 published by the OMPN (Observatorio del Mercado de la Piedra Natural C Natural Stone Market Monitoring Centre), an institution that in turn reports to AIDICO (Instituto Tecnolgico de la Construccin - Construction Technology Institute), Spains natural stone sector is starting to show signs of stagnation despite being the worlds biggest producer. The report warns that without major investment in R&D&I to adapt the industry to changes in the business environment it may lose its leading position.
The Natural Stone Sector Report 2006, commissioned by the FDP (Federacin Española de la Piedra Natural - Spanish Natural Stone Federation), is intended to aid decision-making by providing companies with up-to-date information about the industry. The statistics have been taken from official sources (mining and quarrying statistics and ICEX (Instituto de Comercio Exterior - Institute of Foreign Trade) data, among others), whilst the forecasts for 2007 have been made on the basis of opinions and data submitted by a total of 356 Spanish companies working in the sector. The report highlights that the industrys year-on-year performance has been worsening since 2003 and that the balance of trade figures have progressively fallen. In fact, in 2006 this statistic stood at 929,170 tonnes, a 98-tonne decrease on the year before.
Among the factors contributing to this situation, the document underlines that the sectors strong reliance on exports means that whilst, on the one hand, it has plenty of opportunities for growth, on the other, it is also vulnerable to fluctuations in international markets. As a result, the report states that investing in new technologies that enable it to respond to changes in demand will be a key factor in ensuring the success of the sectors companies. It also points out that transport costs for natural stone prevent relocation of the industrys processes to less expensive sites, and that wage costs in developed countries are high in comparison with those in less developed nations, such as China, Brazil or Turkey.
Nevertheless, the report emphasises that despite the downward trend in volumes, the sector still recorded a 3.2% rise in revenue from exports to achieve a total of 950 million euros in 2006. In this regard, it also underlines that export earnings have leapt up by 84.5 million euros since 2004. That said, the report acknowledges that this rise should be viewed in light of the fact that the selling price fell dramatically in 2003 and, although it has gradually recovered to reach 395.2 euros per tonne of natural stone in 2006, it has not yet returned to 2003 levels. The breakdown by destination for Spains natural stone exports in terms of tonnage reveals that 59% is shipped to EU countries and 24% goes to China. Meanwhile, the US accounts for 9% and Turkey and Morocco each receive 4% of exports. In terms of revenue, the US (21%) and China (7%) are the non-EU countries that spend the greatest amount on Spanish natural stone products. Within the European Union the ranking has also changed slightly, although France (28%), the United Kingdom (11%) and Germany (10%) continue to lead the classification.
The main sources of Spains exports in terms of volume per autonomous region continue to be the two regions that, between them, account for almost 80% of the natural stone shipped abroad C the Autonomous Region of Valencia (41%) and Galicia (38%). Looking at imports, the report by AIDICO indicates that lthough these increased in volume between 2000 and 2005, they then fell by 4% in 2006. The cause of this decrease was the 14.1% rise in the cost of the product, which resulted in a price per tonne of 227.8 euros, 18.8% up on 2005. Within the EU, the biggest natural stone suppliers were Portugal (26%) and Italy (9%). As regards non-member countries, it is worth highlighting the volumes from China (17%), Brazil (13%), Turkey (11%) and India (10%). The report also shows that if imports are considered by value (euros) rather than by tonnage, the biggest suppliers outside of the EU remain China (20%), Brazil (14%), Turkey (13%) and India (12%). Meanwhile, within the EU the leading natural stone suppliers are Italy (16%) and Portugal (11%).
By tonnage, the autonomous regions with greatest demand for natural stone are Galicia (36%), the autonomous Region of Valencia (23%) and Catalonia (11%). Nonetheless, if the value of imports in 2006 is taken as the indicator, then the Autonomous Region of Valencia (29%) becomes the leading importer, followed by Galicia (26%) and the Basque Country (12%). The report includes the survey data produced by the OMPN on the basis of a representative sample of natural stone sector companies from across Spain.
This states that 36% of those surveyed expect sales to increase in the second quarter of 2007 whilst only 4% believe they will fall, revealing that expectations are more favourable than in the same period of 2006.
Furthermore, the report affirms that in 2006 average production capacity utilisation stood at 82.8%, whilst in the first quarter of 2007 this percentage rose to 83.6%. In the first quarter of the year, 28% of the total number of companies surveyed increased their production volumes, whilst 14% saw their output fall.
Forecasts for the next quarter show a slight upward trend, as 31% of companies expect to record growth
and only 3% envisage a decrease. As regards companies opinions about the way in which orders from foreign clients evolved over 2006, the report does not identify a clear trend. During the first half of the
year, the number of companies who considered the number of orders from foreign clients to be low was greater than that of those who considered it to be high. However, in the third quarter the number of companies considering foreign orders to be weak dropped dramatically, a change that was reflected in
the increase in positive assessments of the situation. In the final quarter of 2006 and the first three months of 2007, these positions were once again reversed and the percentage of companies believing export orders to be weak once again exceeded those that believed them to be strong.
(cn-stonenet.com) |
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