Natural Stones
Turkey has a rich potential in terms of natural stone resources, consisting of various colors and patterns of crystalline limestone (marble), limestone, travertine formation limestone (onyx), conglomerate, breccia, and igneous rocks (granite, syenite, diabase, diorite, serpentine, etc.) due to its geological structure. In our country, there are a total of 7.8 billion cubic meters of natural stone resources, including 4 billion cubic meters of exploitable marble, 2.8 billion cubic meters of exploitable travertine, and 1 billion cubic meters of granite reserves. Furthermore, it is known that our country possesses approximately 50.04 billion tons of reserves, which account for 40% of the world's natural stone reserves.
The most well-known marble varieties produced in our country and recognized in the international market are: Süpren, Elazığ Vişne, Akşehir Siyah, Manyas Beyaz, Bilecik Bej, Kaplan Postu, Denizli Travertine, Ege Bordo, Milas Leylak, Gemlik Diabase, and Afyon Şeker.
In 2023, a total of 16.84 million tons of natural stone were produced in our country. This production consisted of 74.9% marble, 17.3% travertine, 2.1% granite, 2.1% basalt, 1.7% andesite, 1.1% mosaic+slate, 0.4% ignimbrite, 0.1% onyx, 0.04% building block and 0.02% diabase.
When comparing Turkey's natural stone trade in 2023 with 2022, our exports increased by 7.43%, while our imports increased by 3.22%. Additionally, the natural stone exports in 2023 accounted for 34% of the total mining exports, placing it in second position in terms of overall mining exports.
Processed natural stone products, which constitute a large part of the world natural stone trade potential, received approximately a 46.3% share of our natural stone exports in 2023, while block products received a 34.4% share. In 2023, the People's Republic of China is the leading country in natural stone exports with 432.3 million dollars. The People's Republic of China is followed by the USA with 389 million USD, India with 159.3 million USD, Saudi Arabia with 114.2 million USD and Iraq with 104.2 million USD.
Date of Update: 26 December 2024
The details presented here have been prepared with the aim of informing the users of the website of our Ministry, and do not possess the characteristics of official binding documents.