Natural Stones
It was previously known that natural stone activities in our country began 4,000 years ago on Marmara Island. However, with the discovery of Göbekli Tepe often referred to in popular sources as the “zero point of history” it has been revealed that natural stones were also used in Anatolia approximately 11,600 years ago. Therefore, it shows that Türkiye possesses the world’s oldest experience in natural stone production.
Türkiye is rich in underground resources due to its geological structure. Located within the Alpine-Himalayan belt, Türkiye, by virtue of its geological structure, possesses a variety of natural stones, including crystalline limestone (marble) in various colors and patterns, limestone, travertine-formed limestone (onyx), conglomerate, breccia, and magmatic rocks (granite, syenite, diabase, diorite, serpentine, etc.). Türkiye possesses 4 billion cubic meters of exploitable marble, 2.8 billion cubic meters of exploitable travertine, and 1 billion cubic meters of granite reserves, totaling 7.8 billion cubic meters of natural stone resources. Additionally, it is known that Türkiye holds approximately 63.11 billion tons of total natural stone reserves, accounting 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 Türkiye, 15.08 million tons of natural stone were produced in 2025, of which 69.8% was marble, 19.5% travertine, 3.9% basalt, 2.5% andesite, 2.2% granite, 1.0% decorative stone, 0.8% ignimbrite, 0.2% gabbro, 0.1% serpentine and 0.1% onyx.
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When examining our country's natural stone export data for 2025, it is seen that our exports increased by 7.2% compared to the previous year, while our imports decreased by 2.1%. However, in 2025, our natural stone exports ranked second in total mining exports with 33.5%.
Processed natural stone products, which constitute a large part of the world's natural stone trade potential, accounted for approximately 68.38% of our natural stone exports in 2025, while block products accounted for 31.62%. In 2025, the leading country for natural stone exports was the USA with $461.96 million. The USA was followed by China with $391.28 million, India with $168.22 million, Saudi Arabia with $110.76 million, and Iraq with $94.58 million.
Date of Update: 30June 2026
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.