Kitchen Counters at GraniteAndKitchen.com

• Kitchen Counters production
• Kitchen Counters business
• Italian dominance
• Counters in Spain
• Kitchens in China

Italian dominance

The relative decline of Italian dominance

10 years ago Italy was the undisputed leader in the granite industry and other countries were more like satellites. The biggest and complicated projects were mostly done by Italian companies, and even for relatively simpler products like slabs and tiles, Italian production was easily the biggest in the world. In fact, 75% of kitchen counters produced in Spain were exported to Italy for processing 10 yeas ago. But the Italians did not invest as much in the new modern machinery (apart from the important fact that other countries with raw materials developed their own processing industry), and by the end of the decade Italy was in clear decline. Modern factories were set up in Taiwan, China, India, Portugal, Brazil and especially Spain, with the latest technology Italy had to offer and this, inevitably, contributed to the decline of Italian market share. Most of the granite companies in the Carrara area have closed down and many in the Verona area are struggling. However, it must be mentioned that Italy is still the overall leader in total volume, the total production there is still an estimated two times bigger than Spain. The general consensus is that, by and large, Spanish companies are more competitive and profitable than Italian ones.