We should focus on the global market prices to prevent the value loss in local marble
Recent developments in Turkish marble sector reveals the issues to take into account in short, medium and long terms. Our sector, seeking for price stability in global markets due to acceleration of marble export especially in the recent years, has faced a loss of value as the products are sold for long years in USA and Middle east for low prices. In fact, when it is considered that USA is our second biggest market, and even the first in the sales of processed marble, the current profile in the global markets becomes clearer. Therefore, we must urgently focus to increase the prices in our primary markets to prevent the loss of value in the local marble. Under these circumstances, the primary responsibility is of manufacturer and exporter companies. At this point, I find it more useful to cut back on the production and exportation in short term instead of decreasing the prices and selling the local Stones under the values they deserve. For as much as easier it may be to decrease the prices in global markets, I believe it would not be easy to increase them back again to a near value that it possesses.
Many production facilities have shut down due to the environmental sanctions in China
Our biggest market and at the same time consisting of traders, who want our products to be sold at their value, the Chinese market is going through significant environmental sanctions by the government in the recent years. The Chinese Government, declaring that China will from now on act in the framework of ecological protection, and grow with green-low carbon and sustainable development, stated that it would bring almost the most rigid environment protection regulations possible. The emphasis on the environment, besides all the other social messages, the government stated in its 2018 new year declaration, showed its impacts in all the states of China. In fact, industrial branches creating air pollution in industrial areas were environmentally sanctioned and many production plants were shut down.
Iron-steel and chemistry industries are leading among the sectors, the produc- tion facilities of which were shut down. Taking a look at the last two years, Chinese exporters mention the increase of environmental inspections and inform that as a result of especially the inspections conducted in the last quarter of 2017, many business places were shut down and even their production licenses were cancelled. It is known that among the three big marble markets of China Tianjin, Yunfu and Shuitou, the productions of Tianjin and Yunfu are close stop as they are near to Beijing and Guangzhthe, respectively. Therefore, these developments can affect the export of Turkey to China in short or medium term. In fact, in some time it is possible that the speed of natural stone export from Turkey to China can have a tendency to slow down. .
Export of marble is on the rise fort he first time since 2014
Despite the negative scenery in the principal markets of the sector, export of marble and natural stone is on the rise for the first time since 2014. Exporting at 1.8-billion-dollar level in 2016, the sector has reached to 2 billion dollars by the end of 2017. Should everything go normal in the sector, we foresee a marble and natural stone export of 2.5 billion dollars for this year. On the other hand, we should also consider that some negative development abroad or domestically may negatively affect this calculation. Because, there is still the possibility to face with some tantrums. Restriction that can be experienced as a result of some negative events developed in our market can be among our main problems. On the other hand, we will have to deal with unconscious production and unawareness and unfair competition that could not be eliminated off the sales policies.
Finally, we will concentrate on fairs and organizations to catch the growth acceleration expected in the sector. In fact, fair traffic has become denser like always with the new year. Local companies coming from America at the end of January, participated to the sector fairs organized in India in the upcoming days. Companies, completing the Indian fairs in mid-february, are now preparing for the fairs in China. After these fairs, Turkish marble sector will meet with the participants in domestic fairs and exhibit their products in İzmir Marble Fair.