NATURAL STONE INDUSTRY OF TURKEY
Marble is a natural stone that has come into existence with the crystallization and reformation after metamorphism of limestone and dolomite limestone under heat and pressure. Marble is a fairly hard stone that has been formed with the metamorphism of the limestone. This general metamorphism takes place very deep under the earth's surface with the influence of intensive heat and pressure. The marble types that are generally known are classical marble, travertine, onyx and granite.
Turkey, situated on the Alpine zone where the world's richest natural stone formations are, has very diverse and large amounts of marble reserves. 40% of the world marble's reserves are in Turkey. These important reserves have spread to a large region between Anatolia and Thrace. In addition to these reserves, Turkey has become one of the world's most important natural stone producers because of its growing industry and the use of technology.
Turkey's natural stone and marble production has increased tremendously in the last few years. With the modern quarry production methods that have recently been applied and with the latest techniques, Turkey has become one of the seven big producer countries in the world's natural stone production.
Turkey has been one of the oldest marble producers in the world with its 4000 years background in marble production starting on the Marmara Island. Having a considerable and quite diverse mineral base, Turkey also has one of the world's largest natural stone reserves, which is considered to be excellent quality wise due to great variety of colours and textures. The sum of proven, probable and potential reserves of natural stones account for 13,8 billion tons (5,2 billion cubic meters). Turkey's annual natural stone production reached about 2.5 million tons in 2000 and the capacity of the plants to produce finished products is around 23,1 million sqm of slabs and tiles in total. Modern fabricating equipments as well as processing methods, which are currently used in the marble sector has led to a remarkable increases in production. Marble is quarried from nearly 700 quarries in Turkey. There are approximately 1600 workshops and 120 factories processing marble. 90% of the quarries are located in the western part of Turkey; mainly in the Marmara Island, Agean region and the province of Afyon. Marble sector, as being involved in natural stone sector which has been in a significant progress for the last decade, plays an important role in Turkey's economy and export. Marble and stone export (in terms of value) of nearly USD 40 million in 1990 increased to USD 188,7 million in 2000. About 250 types of marble are quarried from Turkey's subsoil and over 100 different types of marble are exported. Marble export accounts for 91.3% of Turkey's whole natural stone export. The remaining 8,7 percent represent granites and other natural stone exports. The marble export was USD 172,4 million in 2000 and the share of processed marble within the whole marble export was 82,3%. The value of exported raw marble (block and slab) was USD 30,5 million in 2000. USA was the biggest export market for Turkey on processed marble with a value of USD 54 million. Israel was the second with USD 15,3 million and S. Arabia was the third with USD 12,4 million, respectively. On the other hand, Turkey s granite and other stone export was USD 16,2 million in 2000. So, Turkey's whole marble as well as other stone export realized as USD 188,7 million in total. In recent years, the advancement of marble processing technology has resulted in an improvement in finished products quality, due to the fact that processing time and loss at production have been minimized. But despite of such technological enhancements, Turkey has fallen short of reaching its capacity target, yet. The major markets for overall stones (marble, granite and other stones) are Europe primarily; Italy, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Belgium, The Middle East; Israel, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, The Far East; Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and finally USA. Turkey s marble industry commits profitable future for both foreign and domestic investors due to the very rich resources in terms of variety and quantity. Its importance will continue in the international markets by extending the mutual relations with foreign countries in both technological field and trade. |
