Shows: a guide to the market

Through my work I get the opportunity to visit many different countries and companies. While each site is essentially engaged in the business of quarrying, all are different, and this is brought about by the materials, processes and people involved

An often-asked question (recent overseas visits have been no exception) is how is the quarrying market in the UK and is it improving? These are always difficult questions to answer as things can change quickly, and it is often information from companies and organisations that offer guidance. As I reported recently, the UK’s 2897 Mineral Products Association (MPA) spoke of rising demand in the second quarter and 894 Breedon Aggregates’ executive chairman Peter Tom said the decline in construction output appears to be levelling out...

7447 Hope Construction Materials, Britain’s newest and “biggest independent supplier of concrete, cement, aggregates and asphalt” has become the UK’s first construction firm to join the World Economic Forum’s Global Growth Companies (GGC) community after “demonstrating strong growth potential during its first six months of trading.”

So it is not all bad news, and there is some optimism that the market will turn another corner in 2014. Often companies that have seen growth are those with diversified businesses such as the major players with interests in more than one country.

However, smaller business can also fare well as I found on a recent visit to Greece where two family-owned businesses involved in marble quarrying are finding that supply cannot keep up with demand. (See Quarry Profile this issue).

The market for marble appears to be booming, and as they both produce and process the highly prized Thassos, snow white marble, which has heat-beating properties, business is good.

However, other marble products are also selling well with China leading the demand for the product for its building works. Perhaps another pointer is the success of industry-related events such as 6611 Marmomacc, the 48th international trade fair for stone design and technology, which was held in Verona, Italy. Relying heavily on the marble industry, the event attracted a new record of operators from 143 nations.

Organisers Veronafiere reported that in addition to coverage of geographic areas, the overall share of foreign operators visiting the halls grew by 6% to 55% of the 56,000 visitors in total. The top ten specialised operators came from Germany, followed by India, Spain, Turkey, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia and Brazil. The four days of the event welcomed well over 1,400 exhibitors from nearly 60 countries with new entries from Singapore, Slovenia and Ireland.

Ettore Riello, president of Veronafiere, said: “Further proof of our role as a global hub is that, despite continued economic and financial difficulties, nearly three-quarters of the world’s countries, 143 out of 205, decided to attend the event.”

Another event, attended by many European companies, including Route One Publishing Ltd, was the first 7460 Bauma Africa where 14,700 visitors from more than 110 countries attended, making it the biggest industry event for the sector in Africa. There were 754 exhibitors from 38 countries.

Such was the initial interest that the event’s exhibition had to be increased several times, and indeed Elaine Crewe, CEO of the organisers MMI South Africa, said the feedback received has been “just fantastic.”

Such events show that those in the industry are working at getting the good times to return.