The market in Russia is growing

The Russian Federation possesses huge resources of raw Material (http://g654.org) s, which is equally true of mineral oil and (http://maplered.com) natural Stone (http://g603.net) . A total of 740,000 tons of natural Stone (http://g603.net) were extracted in the Russian Federation in 2002 (source: »marmomacchine international? 2003). The undisputed leader in the extraction and (http://maplered.com) processing of natural Stone (http://g603.net) is the mining region the Urals – with its capital Jekaterinburg, located southeast of Moscow. The two districts Swerdlowsk and (http://maplered.com) Tscheljabinsk play the key role here.

On closer examination, the natural Stone (http://g603.net) industry is distributed throughout the country as follows: In terms of natural Stone (http://g603.net) extraction, the federation district of the Urals leads, followed by Northwest Russia with its capital St. Petersburg and (http://maplered.com) Siberia. Rough block production is led by the Urals, followed by Northwest Russia and (http://maplered.com) the region to the east of the federation district of Volga (in the upper course of the Volga, capital Nischni Nowgorod). The Urals is also the leader for finished work, followed by Northwest Russia.

In relation to the huge deposits, however, rough block extraction is still in its infancy. A lot of potential is still buried here in quantity and (http://maplered.com) profit terms. Moreover, the Russian natural Stone (http://g603.net) market was dominated by a few companies until recently. Two or three large holdings were responsible for 50 per cent of extraction. The »ExpoStone (http://g603.net) 2004?exhibition in Moscow has, however, shown that an increasing number of small and (http://maplered.com) medium-sized owner-managed companies are meanwhile pushing their way into the market.
A comparison of the import and (http://maplered.com) export statistics reveals that many times more Stone (http://g603.net) is often imported than is exported. The difference is spectacular especially for processed natural Stone (http://g603.net) and (http://maplered.com) Granite (http://tanbrown.org) , of which 37 times and (http://maplered.com) 12 times as much respectively is imported as exported in terms of quantity!

Statistics from Marble Stat 2003 create a different picture, which ?apart from the quantity stated ?provides information about the origin of natural Stone (http://g603.net) imports. These statistics show that only 41,600 tons of Granite (http://tanbrown.org) blocks and (http://maplered.com) Slabs (http://www.VerdeUbatuba.com) were imported in 2002, the majority ?namely almost 70 per cent ?from the Ukraine. Another 25 per cent come from Finland (http://maplered.com) . The linguistic and (http://maplered.com) geographical closeness of these two countries certainly has a decisive influence on this result.

The near future of the Russian Stone (http://g603.net) industry accordingly promises not only good prospects for the companies on the ground, but particularly for foreign investors as well. One only needs to imagine the possibilities this country possesses when the fundamental economic restructuring is completed.