“It is not the first training course in the use of stone that we have held in Carrara – highlighted the CEO of IMM, Paris Mazzanti, during the ceremony – because by now our company boasts a sound tradition in the training of young architects, to whom we teach how to select and apply stone materials and the classical, modern and cutting-edge laying and processing techniques. It is an institutional task that we carry out and for which we are appreciated and praised by operators and professionals from all over the world...more

In the period January to April 2006, Italy exported overall 1 million 440 thousand tons of raw and finished marble, granite, travertine, in different shapes and types, for a value of nearly 560 million euros (see enclosed Table), and imported a little less than 1 million tons of stone products, worth nearly 195 million euros. Compared with the exports for the same period in 2005, we can see a slight growth in quantity (+1%) and a more substantial rise in value (+9%) and a growth in imports by volume (+0.7%) and even more by value (+11.7%). These figures have been published by Internazionale Marmi e Macchine Carrara that, as usual, has processed the statistics from ISTAT, the Central Statistics Office, about the domestic import/exports of stone for the first quarter of 2006, comparing them with those for the same period of 2005, to assess the industry trends...more

This overall figure includes visitors who exclusively visited PIEDRA, which on this occasion came to 17,407 professionals - a 6.2% increase with respect to PIEDRA 2004 -, as well as groups of students, guests and a percentage of visitors from VETECO who, given the coincidence and shared exhibition contents of the two fairs, also attended PIEDRA.

Portugal, Italy, France, the United States and the United Kingdom were the main countries of origin of the foreign buyers who attended the fair.

Another of the characteristics of PIEDRA 2006 was its outstanding international scope, both in terms of supply and demand. In this respect, we might highlight the fact that 41% of the exhibiting companies at this edition were of foreign origin and that the attendance of foreign buyers accounted for 11.5% of the total visitor figure, which represents an 8.3% increase compared to PIEDRA 2004. All of this was backed by a number of promotional campaigns, return trade missions organised by regional export bodies and the fair´s International Buyers Programme, organised in collaboration with the Chamber of Trade and Industry of Madrid, which, once again this year, proved to be a highly effective tool...more