A major world player in the dimension stone industry

The reported world production of dimension stones evolved from 1.8 Mt/year, in the 1920s to a level of 160 Mt in 2020, when 60 Mt of raw and processed stones were traded in the international market, generating revenues totaling US$21 billion. India is currently the world's largest stone exporter, in terms of volume. China is the world's leading importer of raw stone, as well as the largest exporter of processed stone. The US and South Korea are the main importers of processed stone, while France and the UK are the main importers of slate products.

Globally, Brazil ranks 5th in production and exports. Its mining-industrial park operates with modern techniques in a geological environment that favors ongoing diversification of the stone portfolio offered on the world market.

Profile of production activities in Brazil

Brazilian business in the industry, counting domestic and foreign markets, including services and machinery sales, equipment, and inputs, generates a turnover of US$5.5 billion/year. About 10,000 companies, including at least 400 regular exporters, are part of its production chain and account for 120,000 direct jobs. The Brazilian production in 2021 was estimated by ABIROCHAS – the Brazilian Dimension Stone Industry Association - at 10.2 Mt. This production includes granites, pegmatites, and similar stone, in addition to marble, travertine, slate, quartzite, basalt and gabbro, serpentinite, soapstone, limestone and others. It is assumed that there are at least 1,200 active mining operations, responsible for more than 1,000 commercial varieties of stone sold in the domestic and foreign markets.

Read the whole article on Brazil Mineral Special Issue 2022