2024 Report on the Current Situation and Development Trends of the Stone Industry
Stone is a high-end product of building decoration materials. Natural stone is generally divided into granite, slate, sandstone, limestone, volcanic rock, etc. With the continuous development and progress of science and technology, the products of artificial stone are also constantly changing with each passing day. The quality and beauty are no less than those of natural stone. With the development of architectural design, stone has long become one of the important raw materials for building, decoration, road and bridge construction.
Nowadays, home decoration is increasingly advocating nature. Therefore, natural stone has entered the building decoration industry in large quantities. It is not only used in luxurious public buildings, but also in home decoration. The consumption is continuously increasing and playing an important role in people's lives. However, due to the defects of natural stone such as difficult mining, being not environmentally friendly, having large radiation to the human body and large color difference, it conflicts with the currently advocated "environmental protection" and "low carbon", and has certain limitations in practical applications. The emergence of artificial stone just makes up for the defects of natural stone and meets the market demand.
Stone, as a high-end building decoration material, is widely used in indoor and outdoor decoration design, curtain wall decoration and public facility construction.
Current situation of stone industry
The improvement of urbanization rate will drive the demand for building decoration materials such as stone from two aspects: the increase in per capita building area and the improvement of living conditions. On the one hand, according to the prediction of China Building Decoration Association, China's urbanization rate will increase by nearly one percentage point every year, and about 13 million agricultural population will be transformed into urban population, directly driving the construction industry demand of more than 600 million square meters.
On the other hand, compared with rural residents, urban residents have higher requirements for living environment and pursue a healthy, comfortable and convenient living experience, and invest more in family housing decoration. Therefore, the improvement of urbanization rate will surely promote the development of the stone industry.
The common stones on the market are mainly divided into natural stone and artificial stone. According to physical and chemical characteristics and quality, natural stone is divided into slate and granite. Artificial stone is divided into terrazzo and synthetic stone according to processes. Terrazzo is forged from raw materials such as cement and concrete; Synthetic stone is made by adding adhesives and other materials after pressing and polishing with crushed stones of natural stone. The latter two are artificially made, so their strength is not as high as that of natural stone.
From the perspective of regional distribution, the production areas of natural marble building slabs in China are mainly concentrated in East China and South China. The production areas of natural granite building slabs in China are mainly concentrated in East China, Central China and North China.
The artificial stone industry is mainly concentrated in Guangdong, Fujian, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places. There are many enterprises in China's artificial stone industry, with different scales. The source of raw materials for artificial stone is not regionally strong, and the production technology of low-end products is relatively low. These characteristics determine that the supply channels of artificial stone are relatively wide. The supply sources of high-end products of artificial stone in China are mainly concentrated in big cities with high requirements such as Beijing and Shanghai.
According to the analysis report "Analysis Report on the Current Situation and Future Development Trends of the Stone Industry from 2024 to 2029" by Zhongyan Industry Research Institute:
At present, stone products account for a small share in the decoration field and have great market potential. While further improving the mining and processing technology level and continuing to do a good job in energy conservation and emission reduction, the stone industry should strive to strengthen the publicity of energy conservation, environmental protection and environmental protection of the stone industry and stone products, especially strengthen communication and exchanges with architectural design, construction and users, guide consumption and promote use, and vigorously explore the market field of stone products.
During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the industrial environment on which stone depends has undergone major changes. The central environmental protection inspection starting in December 2015 completed the full coverage of 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) by the end of 2017. Some mines and processing plants were suspended for rectification, which means that the traditional development model is no longer sustainable. As a result, stone output and economic benefits have entered an adjustment period. In 2015, the main business income of enterprises above designated size was 446.8 billion yuan, and the profit was 36.2 billion yuan. In 2020, the main business income was 308.1 billion yuan, and the profit was 26.2 billion yuan, with an average annual decrease of 7% and 6.26% respectively.
Nowadays, stone processing has entered the era of high technology. The processing base generally selects raw stone for processing. After careful design by craftsmen, it is cut by multi-functional and high-precision intelligent equipment. At the same time, it is polished and ground manually many times to make the product reach the standard brightness. And according to the design draft to be made, it is completed and presented in front of people is an artistic work with gorgeous colors, bright luster and uniform color.
Future development trends of the stone industry
With the development of new technologies such as intelligent manufacturing, Internet of Things and big data, the stone processing industry is gradually realizing digital transformation. Through the digital information management system, a more efficient and convenient production process can be realized, and through data analysis and prediction, product quality and production efficiency can be improved.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the stone industry will take the dual-track industrial base, rational industrial structure, promoting the high-end of the stone industry, and green and low-carbon industrial development as the guiding ideas. Adhere to the ecological, environmentally friendly and efficient development of resources; adhere to green and low-carbon development; adhere to technological innovation and digital empowerment; adhere to industrial agglomeration and modernization of industrial chains; adhere to international development as principles.
On the basis of summarizing the development process of China's stone industry, combined with various factors in the new era, the report gives detailed and prudent forecast and demonstration on the development trend of China's stone industry. The report is rich in data and charts. It not only has in-depth analysis, but also has intuitive comparison. It enables stone enterprises to gain insight into opportunities in the fierce market competition and accurately and timely adjust business strategies according to their own environment.
