Official data processed by the CONFINDUSTRIA MARMOMACCHINE Studies Center for the first half of 2026 show solid growth in foreign sales for the Italian stone/techno-stone industry, remaining on the record levels of recent years. Overall exports of stone materials and stone-working technologies – which account for more than 70% of the value of production– in fact rose by 5.5% from January to June, 2025, reaching worth of $US 1,690 million. At the same time imports decreased by 5.1% (for $US 245 million) with a sector trade surplus rising to 7.6% ($US 1,445 million). In detail, the half-year data showed a good increase in foreign sales of natural stone (+8.2%, for $US 1,231 million), – also marking a new peak for average price per ton – and essential stability in exports of extraction and processing technologies (-0.9%, for $US 459 million).
“The Italian stone/techno-stone industry has 3,200 companies employing 34,000 people, with revenue that in 2025 surpassed $US 5 billion, and a strong vocation for exporting – 2.5 billion, or some 70% of production – along with an active annual trade surplus of more than 2.9 billion. Figures testifying to the fact that our sector is one of the most dynamic of Made in Italy manufacturing as well as a global leader in both stone materials and stone-working technologies”. So stated Flavio Marabelli, Honorary President of CONFINDUSTRIA MARMOMACCHINE, on September 14 in illustrating sector trends at the press conference presenting the 2026 edition of MARMO+MAC, the show of international reference held in Verona from September 22 to 25.
Analyzing export composition, in the first six months of the year Italy’s foreign sales of marbles, travertines, granites and natural stones in general – both raw materials and finished products – reached worth of $US 1,230.9 million, up 8.2% from the same period in 2025. Worth noting is that last year the Italian natural stone industry had already set a new record in exports, reaching worth of $US 2,428 million (+3.5% from 2024).
The growth in this first half of the year concerned both finished and semi-finished products (+7.5% for $US 956.6 million) and raw materials (+10.6% for $US 274.4 million). It should also be emphasized that – due to a downturn of 3.3% in the amounts exported – decreased to 997 million tons – in the first half of 2026 the average price of Italian stone materials sold abroad reached a new peak of $US 1,234.60 per ton, with finished products for the first time above the threshold of $US 2,000 per ton.
As for destination markets, China took first place among buyers of blocks extracted in Italy with $US 144.6 million in imports (+19.5%) and a more than 50% share, followed by India with 30.1 million (+17%). In regard to finished stone products, the leading market was again the United States, to which Italy exported goods worth $US 323.5 million (up 7.5%), followed by Germany (stable at 66.3 million), Switzerland (with 62.4 million, + 27.7%), France (with 58.1 million, down 1.7%) and the United Arab Emirates (41.2 million, +24.9%).
Where stone extraction and processing technologies were concerned – in which Italy is a market leader along with China, each with a nearly 30% share – in the first half of 2026 Italy’s exports, which account for more than 70% of total sector revenue, remained on the same levels of the previous year (-0.9%), amounting to worth of $US 459.2 million. After a perceptible downturn in the past two years, the hoped-for uptake in foreign sales was therefore postponed, mainly because of the stasis in global stone trading – largely due to persistent geopolitical instability – and consequent decrease in technological investments on important sector markets (Nort America and the Middle East in particular), as well as to growing international competition, mainly from China.
In regard to destination areas, in the first part of the year sales of machinery and equipment to the United States remained stable (+0.9%), making it by far the top buyer of stone technologies Made in Italy, with imports worth $US 58.9 million. Germany was in second place with 29.2 million (-6.6%) and the United Kingdom in third, with 27.8 million (+37.1%), followed by Turkey (27.5 million, -26.6%) and France (26.9 million, +10%).
