Author: STC
Article Date: 01.07.2016

The stone industry has been booming in Canada, with thousands of projects requiring all types of stones, from small house renovation projects, to large hotels, stadiums, shopping malls and more. The Canadian market value for flooring related products is estimated at approximately $2.3 billion CAD; Canada has increased its natural stone and related products imports by 40% in the last 5 years, totaling over $400 million CAD(2014);  the Canadian flooring market is stronger per-capita than the US market and Canada is more heavily residential than the US. In recent years, Canada has witnessed a high volume of construction development.  This has resulted in tremendous growth for the import of building materials. Along with the growth of Canada's construction and real estate sectors, the stone and related products market has noticed an increase in demand over the last few years.  Stone consumption in Canada continues to grow, in spite of the higher cost.  It continues to be popular, and is expected to be around for a while.  The market is ready for a new era of stone consumption, both in the residential and commercial sectors. The important parameters on import-export of dimension stone to Canada for 2014 were as under:- World Stone Export  to Canada            :               22,870  million US$ Indian Stone Export to Canada            :               2,105 million US$ Statistics for 2014 Net consumption trend in Canada     :               21.704 million tonnes Import of Stones in  Canada                 :               1.119 million tonnes Export of Stones to Canada                  :               434,000 tonnes Import of Stones in the World                             :               56.938 million tonnes Exports from Canada                                               :               250,000 tonnes   Import of Stones in Canada  2014 in Thousand  Tonnes(TT) Code 25.15 :  From China - 13 TT, India -  3 TT, USA -  3 TT, and from other countries - 1 TT = Total - 20 TT Code 25.16 :  From South Africa -  3 TT, India -  20 TT, China -  4 TT, USA - 40 TT, Brazil -  3 TT and other countries - 13 TT = Total - 88 TT Code 68.01 : From India - 5 TT, China - 7 TT and USA - 3 TT = Total - 15 TT Code 68.02 : From Italy - 66 TT, Germany - 2 MT, France - 2 TT, Spain - 6 TT, Portugal - 15 TT, Greece - 3 TT, Turkey - 48 TT, Egypt - 1 TT, India - 410 TT, Taiwan - 3 TT, China - 182 TT, USA - 160 TT, Mexico - 3 TT, Brazil - 37 TT and from other countries - 51 TT Total - 989 TT. Code 68.03 : From India - 1 TT, China - 6 TT, USA - 3 TT, Brazil - 2 TT Total - 12 TT   World Import of Stones in 2014 in Million Tonnes (MT) Code 25.15 - 14.210 MT; Code 25.16 - 15.017 MT; Code 68.01 - 3.3 MT; Code 68.02 - 22.895 MT; Code 68.03 - 1.216 M.T. India's Export Share to Canada  in 2014 : Code 25.15 was 15%; Code 25.16 was 24.1%, Code  68.01 was 33.3% , Code 68.02 was 41.5% and Code 68.01 was 8.3%. It would be seen that for rough calcareous and siliceous stones (Code 25.15 and 68.01), China, India and USA are the best trading partners for Canada. For Code 25.16, import from USA was highest followed by India.  For Code 68.02, India's export was  41.5% followed by China (18.2%) and USA (16.2%). It clearly indicates that colours, finishes and products from India have been accepted in Canada as the total share of India's exports to Canada  was 38.8%.   Since USA,  China, Turkey and Brazil also export sizeable quantities of finished products, participation of Indian companies in STONEX 2017 to be held from 17th to 19th May, 2017 in Toronto would definitely be rewarding.  It is hoped that exports to Canada from India would increase by 15 - 20% in years to come. For more information about STONEX 2017 visit www.stonexcanada.com