September 15th, 2015 – The Italian marble industry is growing once again abroad, driving the recovery in exports in the first six months of 2015, with a 5.8% leap in the foreign sales of manufactured and raw products, compared to the same period of 2014, for a trade balance that reached €972.9 million. Also growing in first six months of the year is the export of machines and equipment for processing, which recorded an 28.8% increase. The encouraging figures were analyzed by Confindustria Marmomacchine based on Istat data, and were presented during the Marmomacc press conference, the most important international event dedicated to marble, granite, technology and design. This year in its 50th edition, Marmomacc returns to Veronafiere from 30 September to 3 October. The most important target market is the United States, marking a 30.2% increase in imports for processed and semi-finished materials from Italy, and a + 82.8% increase in imports of machinery and equipment for the processing of ornamental stones. Thanks to Marmomacc, the Italian stone industry will have an opportunity to interact with foreign companies: of the more than the 1,500 exhibitors expected at the fair, two-thirds are foreign, for a total of 933 companies from 55 countries. This is a result of historic proportions for an industry that in 2014 in Italy reached a total production of over €3.84 billion euro (75% of which generated from exports) with 3,340 companies and 33,700 employees.
