Stone market sees hot foreign trade market

The Russian stone market can be said to be the hottest market in the stone foreign trade industry. The market is large, the price is good, the profits are high, the potential is great, and the competition is small. Combine some other people's information and their own understanding and experience to introduce the Russian stone market.

Although Russia has a vast territory, its population is mainly concentrated in the Moscow region, causing very large stone consumption in Moscow, especially for the consumption of imported stone. According to statistics, the consumption of imported stone in Moscow and Moscow states accounts for almost total imports. Half of the amount.

Russia's stone decoration market is mainly divided into five categories are large plates, size plates (including thin plates), floor shops, tombstones (monuments) and building stone. Among them, the market share of the specification board sheet is the largest, accounting for 40%, followed by the large board and the tombstone market each accounting for more than 20%, while the building stone and paving stones each account for 10%. Let us mention here the tombstone market in Russia. Due to Russia's vast land and sparse population and abundant land resources, not only is it now including the demand for gravestones for decades to come, it will not be as large as Western European markets. Not bad, but because land resources are scarce and land prices are expensive, the middle class's consumer demand for gravestones is suppressed.

Russia’s sheet metal market has always been the bulk of the market, and Russia’s economy has been very strong since 2002. Its sheet metal consumption is biased toward high-grade stone (especially those directly consumed by stone), and its main plate suppliers are China, India, Italy, Spain, Ukraine Finland Kazakhstan, Greece and Turkey. Among them, granite products are mainly Ukraine, Finland, Kazakhstan, Italy, Spain, India, and China; marble products are mainly Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Spain.

China's stone products exported to Russia are still dominated by low-end stone products. However, with the economic crisis, the demand for stone materials in Russia is also relatively low, which is a good opportunity for China's foreign trade in stone materials. At the same time, I have increased the number of imported stone blocks, and many excellent stone materials such as Brazil and India can also be mass-produced. Greatly strengthened the competitiveness of our stone in Russia. However, India has also attached great importance to the Russian market in the past two years and has vigorously explored the Russian market.

Russia's stone imports are dominated by granite, supplemented by marble, and the demand for travertine is also relatively large. The share of imported granite and marble is about 6.5:3.5. Slate and sandstone are also imported in small quantities and are mainly used for the decoration of villas.

The preference of Russians for color is more like a grayish feeling, so the choice of stone also has this tendency. Most of their granite colors are gray, black, and blue; marble's main requirements are white, blue, and black.

Russia's plate market is mainly based on 2cm plate, originally did not accept the 1.8cm plate, but due to the impact of the import price of the head plate, many companies are now able to accept. However, the specification board is thick enough. Russia's conventional sheet metal specifications are 300X300mm, 305X305mm, 400X400mm, 300X600mm, 400X600mm, and 400X800mm. Larger sizes use less square dimensions. Due to the climate issue, the specification plate thickness is generally 2cm, but the small size is also useful 1.5cm and 1cm (although the 10MM thin plate is rarely used), and large specifications will require 2.5cm and 3cm.

The demand for deep-processed products in Russia is quite large. Whether it is special-shaped stone plates or carvings, in addition to the aforementioned tombstones, the demand for fireplaces, washbasins, countertops (desktops), and door and window covers is also very large.

Due to its short time of establishment and due to the fact that cold traffic is not very convenient, many consumers choose local service providers. This has caused a major feature of the stone market that there are a large number of direct consumers, such as individual builders. And decoration designers, small construction teams, and most direct consumers (house or company decoration owners). So many times the Russian customers we are in contact with only understand Russian and do not understand English. It is very difficult to communicate with each other, and moving orders are relatively small and scattered. However, the prices of such orders are very good, and at the same time, the product quality requirements are not very strict. Russia’s direct stone consumer accounted for a large proportion of its stone import share, close to a 45% share. In the rest of the market, professional builders, distributors, and wholesalers are known, but these customers are mainly concentrated in large cities such as Moscow. Therefore, we can offer selective quotes for this feature when we quote, so that sometimes the price will not be high, and sometimes the profits will not be obtained.