The Russian building stone market
Despite the challenges of the last three years, the Russian building stone market is showing high growth rates. Thus, production growth indices and market volume in monetary terms do not fall below 4-5%
Building stone market in Russia in brief
In 2022, Russian enterprises produced more than 94.5 thousand tons of building stone. This is over 29% more than in 2021. The leading position in terms of production of this material over the past 5 years is occupied by the North-Western Federal District, in which almost half (49.3%) of the total volume of building stone was mined. In second place is the Siberian Federal District (22.5% of the production of building stone for the period from 2017 to 2022). In addition, in April 2023, 7,718.2 thousand tons of building stone were produced in the Russian Federation, which is 23.8% more than in the same month last year.
In 2017–2022, the import of building stone also grew. For example, the volume of marble imports increased by 19.5% during this period. Basically, this material was supplied from Germany, Italy, and Spain. In 2022, Turkey strengthened its position in the top 5 exporters of building stone: now the country accounts for more than 20% of the total imports of marble products.
The main buyers of building stone are housing construction developers. Its volume is currently about 131 million square meters, and this amount will grow annually by 3-5%. It is important to distinguish between this indicator and the volume of housing commissioning: the first reflects how much of the total housing is under construction, and the second – how much will be put into operation.
In the coming years, we should expect an intensification of housing construction, including through the launch of mechanisms for the integrated development of territories. It is no coincidence that the Construction Industry and Housing and Public Utilities Development Strategy as of 2021 outlines ambitious goals: to achieve 120 million square meters annual housing commissioning rate and exceed 1 billion square meters in 10-year volume of housing commissioning by 2030. Therefore, the demand for building materials including stone will certainly grow. It provides excellent opportunities for new players to enter growing and promising Russian market.
Stone sector at MosBuild 2024
MosBuild 2024 will feature a specialized “Stone” sector, where manufacturers and suppliers of natural and artificial stone for construction, decoration, and landscaping, as well as stone design items will be able to present their products to target audience of specialists from trade and construction companies, as well as architects and designers. It is possible to negotiate with decision makers and conclude new contracts directly at the show.
The synergy of the "Stone" and "Ceramic tiles" sectors provides an additional coverage of professionals. In 2023, 32% of unique visitors (25,249 specialist) of MosBuild were interested in the sectors’ products. 9,322 people were interior designers and architects, 6,899 were representatives of wholesale and retail trade, 4,354 were specialists from construction, design, and repair companies.
At MosBuild 2024, the Stone exposition will be organized with the support of Karelforum, the key industry platform for the stone processing sector.
