Indian marble market more lucrative than Chinese

Indian marble market which so far remained untapped is more lucrative for Pakistani marble compared to the Chinese market.
Pakistani exporters of marble who are going to attend the forth coming exhibition in New Delhi are of the view that Islamabad could hardly meet the huge demand for marble in the neighbouring country. According to them, the foreign market for raw material, processed and semi processed marble has remained untapped during the last 60 years. The first ever exhibition ‘Lifestyle Pakistan’ scheduled to be held next month could be a good initiative to open door for various kinds of Pakistani marble.
Though 60 per cent of the country’s exports of raw material go to China from where the processed marble is re-exported to other countries, Pakistani marble could also enter many other potential markets through value addition in India. As latest Indian made machineries of the marbles sector are already coming here from Dubai, the further transfer of technology could also help the exporters to sale processed and finished material abroad. “The big importers/exporters of marble in China and India are mostly unaware of the reserves and quality of the stones produced in Pakistan,” Sanaullah Khan Chairman, All Pakistan Marble Mining, Processing and Export Industry told Profit on Monday.
The only issue here was how to increase production /mining of marble as the precious stones worth $1 billion were being consumed locally, while demands abroad were also increasing day by day, he added. The global demand for Pakistan’s marble, which is considered to be one of the best in the world, is already increasing. Saudi Arabia’s projects for building new cities are the latest in view, implying great potential of purchasing Pakistan’s marble on a large scale. Saudi Arabia also has plans for erecting the world’s tallest building (around 1,000 metres tall, while close to 300 civil construction projects are already either in progress or in design across the Saudi Kingdom. All this construction means a great amount of profit for Pakistan via export of its high-quality marble.
In the next five years, marble export is expected to increase to about a billion dollars – a great boost for Pakistan’s economy. However, certain challenges need to be overcome; the main challenge being the power crisis in the country which is hindering the processing of raw marble in the marble factories. Updating the machinery and technology for enhanced performance of the marble industry is another major requirement. Together with granite (used in construction); marble leads the list of Pakistan’s economically viable mineral deposits. Besides the main drawbacks of this industry is the absence of sophisticated techniques; mining through explosives which do not allow production of large slabs of marble and implies important wastage.