EVENTS
Turkish stone connections Stonemasons and other industry professionals such as architects, builders, importers, exporters and distributors could connect with natural stone companies from Turkey in a series of events facilitated by Blink Group
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urkish stone imports coming into the Australian market made up 18% of the total value of all natural stone imports during the 2018-19 financial year, according to data compiled by Discovering Stone contributor, Peter Halliday. The percentage in value of natural stone imports from Turkey for that year was more than Italy (14.1%) but nowhere near China (45.3%). Baris Atayma, founder of B2B matchmaking and marketing company, Blink Group has also seen data that indicates a year-on-year increase of Turkish natural stone
Murat Turkoglu and Ali Ozcelik from AKDO attended the Melbourne event
Salih Tufan from Alacakaya also attended the event at the Sheraton Melbourne
exports to Australia during December 2019 and January 2020. His company was contracted by the Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters’ Association (IMMIB) to organise the one-on-one meetings. They were held at the Sheraton Melbourne and Hyatt Regency Sydney respectively. In terms of promoting the events, Baris explains, “We ran an awareness campaign promoting the events through Discovering Stone magazine, e-newsletters and LinkedIn advertising. We also built our own contact lists through publicly available data, and researched the companies involved”. IMMIB contributes to the development of foreign trade that is aligned with the interests of the Turkish government. It represents around 25,000 members that produce and/or export products and services. More specifically, it works to increase exports in the minerals sector that includes the natural stone industry. The organisation also provides export advice and assistance to members to raise their competitiveness in global markets. IMMIB lifts the profile of the minerals sector through trade exhibitions, buying and trade missions as well as projects.
Turkish Carrara white marble
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Stone origins Turkey has one of the world’s oldest marble production sites and has history dating back 4000 years producing natural stone, starting at Marmara Island. It provided material for statues and monuments for the ancient Greeks and Romans. The country is also a leading supplier travertine. Similar to Italy, Turkey has a major reputation for stone quarrying. It has close to 5,000 natural stone quarries and approximately 1,750 workshops and factories located there. The country yields more than 250 different types of marble and travertine, shipping it to more than 130 countries around the world. According to the Turkish government, more than 30 per cent of the world’s reserves of marble are in Turkey. Most of it comes from an area west of the 31st Parallel and south of Istanbul. White and travertine are its best-known natural stone products, but the country is a source of granite, limestone, and onyx too. One of the top-selling Turkish products is Turkish Carrara. Not to be confused with Italian Carrara marble, it’s a white marble with more of a yellowish hue than the pure white Italian version. But it’s a choice that gives the same crisp, clean look of white marble at a fraction of the pr ice. n
