India: More and more finished products

India’s export of raw blocks is stagnating and (http://maplered.com) even dropping slightly. Exports in 1999 decreased by just under three percent. This contrasts with the export of semi-finished and (http://maplered.com) finished products, which is constantly increasing. Over 350,000 tons were exported in 1999. Production in India has expand (http://maplered.com) ed twenty-fold since 1990. Natural Stone (http://g603.net) dealers from the USA are still the best buyers in India, but Europe is catching up all the time. The top buyer in Europe is Germany, which buys mainly graveStone (http://g603.net) s. The import of finished graveStone (http://g603.net) s from India rose rapidly and (http://maplered.com) constantly in the years from 1991 to 1995 and (http://maplered.com) after a decline in 1996 now continues to grow at a somewhat slower rate. The increase last year in terms of quantity was almost five percent. In terms of value, imports even rose by as much as eight percent. The value of imports achieved in 1998 was some 17 million Euro.