I will be visiting Marmomacc next week. Marmomacc is the biggest European stone fair, it takes place in Verona Italy, I have visited quite a few and this one is my favorite, you have a wide variety of Worldwide manufacturers. I will try to update myself regarding the market itself, hopefully I can share with you this information.
Nowadays it's actually very affordable to visit this fair and in general any other one, with low-cost airlines working most of the European countries. If you are also visiting, remember Marmomacc is a big fair, to see all the pavilions looking for opportunities you'll need 2 full days, and normally Thursday and Friday are the most popular visiting days.
23.9.10
29.8.10
Engineered Stone : Competitive Barriers
In Europe and due to the world crisis, the engineered stone producers (that use Breton technology) are joining forces. Basically the main challenge is the products that are arriving at a lower cost through Chineses producers. The strict tolerances for the CE marking have objectively been made to barricade the entrance, however it'll not be enough.
If we look at the current state of the markets, we have most marble based producers either bankrupt or with serious market difficulties .... while the quartz producers have been struggling to survive.
The future lies ahead, and competition will grow as the oriental competition sets in, and this will cause a price decrease ...
ASTA Europe has been instated by the main European producers as a joint force to establish a joint strategy to protect the industry. Truth is that cheaper products and lower quality are seen continuously side by side marching in to the European Market. And basically the products look very similar one with other which confuse the end user, so much work is needed in this area to protect the market and the end user froim being defrauded.
Quality of a product is based on many factors, and they (the consumers) have the right to know exactly what they are buying, I believe that much deceive is currently going on and a great necessity of control and supervision is needed.
If we look at the current state of the markets, we have most marble based producers either bankrupt or with serious market difficulties .... while the quartz producers have been struggling to survive.
The future lies ahead, and competition will grow as the oriental competition sets in, and this will cause a price decrease ...
ASTA Europe has been instated by the main European producers as a joint force to establish a joint strategy to protect the industry. Truth is that cheaper products and lower quality are seen continuously side by side marching in to the European Market. And basically the products look very similar one with other which confuse the end user, so much work is needed in this area to protect the market and the end user froim being defrauded.
Quality of a product is based on many factors, and they (the consumers) have the right to know exactly what they are buying, I believe that much deceive is currently going on and a great necessity of control and supervision is needed.
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