Robert Stadler
The eyes of most international stone traders are focused on the US and the German consumer markets - simply because of their sheer size. By doing so, many tend to neglect the somewhat smaller but quite often more promising markets, such as, for example, Switzerland.
According to the World Marketing Handbook "Stone 2000", Switzerland boasts the second highest per capita consumption of dimensional stone in the world. With an average consumption of just under 1.47 square meters in 1999, Switzerland with its 7.3 million population lagged just a fraction of a point behind "historic marble country" Greece (1.47 m2), but stayed well ahead of world production leader Italy (1.01 m2). In comparison, per capita consumption in the USA was only slightly more than a tenth of Switzerland's figure and in Germany only somewhat more than a third. In absolute figures Swiss stone consumption was 10.4 million m2, which placed the country world-wide in15th spot, ahead of many other much bigger nations, to name only Turkey, Canada and the Philippines.
High standard
One mayor reason for being such an important stone consumer is Switzerland's very high-income level and standard of living. In absolute terms, the average household income in Switzerland is about 40 per cent higher than in Germany. Even though up to 70 Percent of the population live in apartment buildings, the standard of housing in general is of outstanding quality. Those Swiss who build their own home are able and prepared to spend a fair bit more on "luxury" than other Europeans. In combination with the deep-rooted preference of the Swiss people for long lasting high quality goods, this fact favours the use of natural stone. In Swiss kitchen design, to mention only one but important example, Granite has, over the last ten years, become the standard material for cooking work places. In many homes and high price apartments dimensional stone today is also applied frequently in bathrooms, entrance halls and living rooms.
Other main users of dimensional stone are the many service companies, such as banks and insurances, applying prestigious stone materials often for interior design and facade claddings. Furthermore, dimensional stone is used frequently also by the public sector, especially for road and public place pavings, but also in public buildings such as town halls and museums.
Old stone tradition
One other reason for the high stone consumption figure is the fact that Switzerland, in some regions at least, can look back to a very old stone tradition. For example, the historic part of the capital city of Berne, listed as a cultural heritage object by UNESCO, is almost entirely built of locally Bernese Sandstone, the city of Neuchatel, a charming university town in French speaking western Switzerland, on the other hand, of Jurassic limestone. The region with the most outstanding stone tradition, though, is the Ticino, the Italian speaking part of the country, where for many centuries public buildings as well as ordinary houses were constructed of locally found Gneiss - this not only for the walls, but also the roof.
Major materials
Following roughly three arches running from North West to South East, Switzerland with its only 41 000 square kilometres of surface is geologically divided into three parts: the Jura (20% of the entire area), the Mittelland (30%) and the Alps (50%). While the Jura region is rich in limestone and the Mittelland (meaning the middle part of the country) of sedimental sandstones, the Alps are the source mainly of Gneiss (Serrizo) but also granites, conglomerates and marbles.
Before World War I some 700 quarries of importance existed in Switzerland. This number steadily decreased to about 80 today. More than 50 are to be found in the Alps, 20 in the Mittelland and only a handful in the Jura.
The main production area is the Ticino, together with neighbouring Calanca Valley in the Canton (state) of Grisons. In this area south of the Alps about 30 quarries are in operation, producing mainly greyish and in general well cleavable Gneiss but also some varieties of marble. The best-known Gneiss sorts are (named after the valleys or the villages in which they are quarried): Maggia, Onsernone, Iragna, Lodrino, Cresciano, Legiuna and Calanca.
Outside the Alpine village of Andeer in the Grisons two quarries produce the internationally renowned Andeer Granit (also known as Verde Andeer), a green Gneiss that is often used for facades, floors, stairs and tombstones. Also from the Grisons are the Soglio Quartzite and the Gneiss of Vals. The Canton of Valais in the West is renowned for some "specialities", the one best known outside Switzerland being probably the greenish conglomerate Vert de Salvan.
In the Mitteland the best-known sandstones are quarried in the Germanic Eastern part of the country, namely Rorschacher, St. Margrethener, Bollinger, Guntliweider and Buchberger Sandstone. In the Jura region only the limestones of Laufen and Liesberg are today of some significance outside their own area.
4000 employees
The entire stone branch in Switzerland occupies approximately 4000 employees. The quarries and the stone processing industry consists of some 100 small and medium sized companies with approximately 2000 employees and some 500 mainly small stone mason and stone sculpture plants with about the same work force. Imports of raw and manufactured stone materials in the year 2000 reached a value of approx. 200 million Swiss francs (130 million Euro), of which about two thirds were from Italy. Exact export figures are not available but are estimated to be in the order of 30 to 40 million Euros, the main customers being neighbouring Germany (for finished products) and Italy (for raw material).
Full speed ahead?
In the nineties, Switzerland experienced the most significant economic downturn since the thirties. Worst hit was the building industry, where employment was almost halved within eight years. In the related stone industry the recession was not felt as strongly but also left its marks. Within two years now the Swiss economy has recovered remarkably and at present is at full speed again. In March 2001 unimployment was less than 2 per cent of the total work force, a figure that in Europe is without comparison. In line with that development the stone branch has recovered and orders have improved noticeable. The outlook for the near future is quite promising, especially for those companies specialising in dimensional stone works for internal use, as well as for garden or park design.
* Robert Stadler is Editor of the Swiss building trade magazine "Schweizer Baublatt" and the German dimensional stone magazine "Stein". He lives and works in Zurich.
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Last Updated: July 2008
