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to stagnation which is still present in the western world. Marble and stone are part of human life without any distinction in time or space. Today, this can be extended to the sector of technology too, whose role in the development of the stone sector is fundamental, as showed by the data regarding the distribution and interchange of machinery and instrumental goods, representing a big part of this Report. The leading force of investments in plants and in the basic research can be seen as a precondition for further improvements in productivity and safety, and it highly contributes to the growth taking place in the last decades (with the exception of the general stagnation in 2009, which, in every case, hit the stone sector only partially. The hypothesis of growth that can be deduced from the analysis of the past and from the tangible upswing of world demand become even more appreciable if they are supported by the political will of understanding the strategic potentiality of marble and stone, as happened in several Countries, as well as that of supporting politics of economic and social development for the sector, taking into account the needs of industrial promotion and financial incentive with its unquestionable specific characteristics, respecting work conditions and safeguarding the environment. In this context, China, India, Turkey and Brazil, protagonists of a massive development, the highest in the sector, should be seen as a reference. The XXIV Report has stepped up in class, through the detailed analysis of the
XXIV Report World Marble and Stones 2013
conditions that allowed a big Country like Brazil, principal example of the western expansion in the stone sector, to overcome the difficult conditions affecting it at the beginning and to promote a strategy of renewed development, based on the added value of the exportation, especially as to processed product, which has overtaken that of raw products and, obviously, thanks to its internal market which is steadily growing also in the qualitative demand. The Countries taken into account, confirming the historical maximum rate of one hundred, embrace all the major realities of the sector, as well as some minor presences, able to participate in the market with important contributions in the production and consumption. Moreover, it should be taken into account that many third Countries cannot produce the statistical information required, not even backdated, and that’s why we can say that the Report shows a detailed description of the stone sector and, at the same time, an objective evaluation of its potential. A deep knowledge of demand and offer, of its variables of origin, productive types, endings and its evolution in the short and long term, constitutes a factor of strategic importance, above all in the planning of sector intervention and, at the same time, in the options of industrial strategy. In this perspective, this Report has an useful function, providing a consolidate service of industrial and, at the same time, human and civil promotion. The stone sector was able to face the world critical situation with average results that are better than those of its competitors and in
Carlo Montani
many cases, better than those of the national economic systems themselves. It is important to underline this aspect because it means that marble and stones can substantially contribute to the economic development and that their demand, supported by objective factors like technological and chromatic competitiveness, highlights a peculiar suitability to fulfill functional and aesthetic
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needs, in a strong synergy with the social economic factor. To sum up, it is necessary to confirm that the stone sector produces, distributes and promotes a material of peace and, for this reason, able to better fulfill the requirements and desires of the modern man. That’s just another reason to support its growing and its propulsive role in terms of work and values.