Ceará Grows More Than Tenfold Compared to Brazil’s Leading Natural Stone Exporting States

Growth of 141% in 2025 surpasses the advances recorded by Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais. The state concentrates one of the country’s largest quartzite production bases, a material whose international demand intensified after the tariff hike.

Ceará was the Brazilian state with the highest percentage growth in natural stone exports in 2025, consolidating itself as the main driver of expansion for the sector nationwide. According to data from the Brazilian Natural Stone Association (Centrorochas), Ceará’s foreign sales increased by 141.3% in value over the year—performance more than ten times higher than that of the country’s two largest exporting hubs, Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais, which each grew by 12.2% over the same period.

This strong result raised Ceará’s share to 7.4% of Brazil’s natural stone exports, significantly increasing the state’s weight in the sector’s foreign trade. The advance occurred amid adjustments in the international market, marked by the imposition of additional tariffs in strategic markets, which demanded greater adaptability from exporters.

“The figures impressed us, especially because they were achieved in a challenging year, which caused significant declines in exports of granite, marble, and slate. For companies focused exclusively on extracting these products, the year was marked by contraction. This movement, however, ended up being offset by the advance of other materials, such as quartzites, which performed very positively and helped sustain the sector’s overall result,” analyzes Tales Machado, president of Centrorochas.

In this context, Ceará stood out for concentrating one of the country’s largest quartzite production bases—a material whose international demand intensified after the tariff hike, as it falls under the only code included on the list of U.S. tariff exceptions. This condition increased the competitiveness of Brazilian products and favored production, allowing Ceará to capture a significant share of the sector’s growth in 2025.

One symbol of this advance is Uruoca, which, in 2025, began to rank among the ten largest natural stone exporting municipalities in the country. Located in the Ibiapaba region in northwestern Ceará, the municipality has been consolidating itself as a relevant quartzite production hub, strengthening the link between regional mineral potential and the state’s integration into global supply chains.

While Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais maintained more moderate growth, supported by already consolidated production structures, Ceará stood out for the rapid expansion of its export portfolio, taking advantage of a window of opportunity opened by the recovery of global demand. “This movement reinforces the state’s position as an emerging hub in the natural stone sector and points to new growth prospects in the coming years,” says Tales.

The advance was also reflected in the profile of Ceará’s export destinations. Italy (+110.4%), China (+309.6%), and the United States (+115.9%) concentrated the main purchases in 2025, with particular emphasis on quartzites (+174.1%), reinforcing Ceará’s integration into the world’s leading natural stone supply and processing chains.