Brazilian stone sector maintains revenues of more than 1 billion dollars in exports in 2022

After the positive number reached in 2021, when it broke a historic record with exports, the Brazilian ornamental stone sector exported, in 2022, 1.28 billion dollars. The data was disclosed by the Brazilian Center of Ornamental Stones Exporters (Centrorochas) indicating a decrease of 4% in relation to the previous year. One of the reasons given was the history of logistical challenges.

Cargo transport is vital for the segment that has the United States, China and Italy as its main customers. For this year, several actions aimed at the foreign market are scheduled by the entity that, in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), conducts It’s Natural – Brazilian Natural Stone, a project to promote Brazilian stones in the market International.

“We are an optimistic and resilient sector, we have sought to expand markets and new ways to serve traditional markets. The sector’s behavior in the first 3 quarters of 2022 pointed to possible stability, or even growth, in relation to 2021, however, expressive and negative results in the months of the last quarter led to a reduction in relation to 2021. We face many challenges such as the logistical complexity, high sea freight costs, main customers with stocked stock and, of course, competition with artificial materials. The numbers for the last quarter/22 point to a significant drop in exports, which may still have effects in the 1st bimester/2023, but we have the expectation that the market will react. We also believe that actions under development with a view to expanding and opening new markets and encouraging the sale of higher value-added products will contribute positively to reversing the scenario observed at the end of 2022”, says Centrorochas president, Tales Machado.

Behavior in the main markets

In 2022, the United States, China and Italy represented, respectively, 58%, 13% and 8% of the country’s total exports. Despite having less representation among the three, the shipment of Brazilian natural stones to Italy grew 19.65% compared to 2021. The second increase was in charge of China, which imported 162.7 million dollars in domestic products, advancing in 5.89% for the year. However, revenues from exports to the United States fell by around 10%.

According to the director of Centrorochas, this behavior in the main Brazilian client possibly occurred due to the increase in stocks of the main distributors in the country. “Sales to the US continued positively until September. From then on, with stocks filled and having to bear high costs up front, purchases were slowed down by distributors”, explained Tales.

Major exporting states

Espírito Santo (81.8%), Minas Gerais (10.9%) and Ceará (3.1%) were the Brazilian states that most exported natural stones in 2022. Occupying the first place in the ranking, Espírito Santo exported 1 .05 billion dollars, registering a decrease of 5.9% in relation to the previous year. Minas Gerais and Ceará recorded increases of 5.2% and 5.4% respectively.

Photo: Image courtesy of Levantina for the Centrorochas Image bank.