Anil Taneja, Director LITOSonline.com
1. During the last decade and a half, the Polish stone companies had invested in all kinds of sophisticated and expensive machines, not just the CNC machines, but also for processing blocks, sometimes entire plants for processing granite. The EU subsidies, no doubt, were a factor that encouraged businessmen to make these investments. One consequence of this was the previous trend of purchasing semi- finished and finished stone reversed to a large degree and the Polish companies started importing more and more blocks.
However, in many cases it never really made sense. It was a high-risk strategy given the limited nature and variety of the country's own raw materials of natural stone. Slab prices in recent years, processed in factories in other countries with its own raw materials, have gone down all over the world and the Polish processing units find it difficult to compete with imported materials. The high cost of energy, among the highest in the EU, makes it even more difficult for Polish processing units to compete. The strengthening Euro against most other currencies while the Zloty has remained more or less stable, at 4.2. zloty =1 euro, during 2025, has also contributed to this trend, making slabs imported from non- EU countries extremely competitive. So, the new trend, as of 2026, is Poland gradually going back to purchasing slabs and finished stone
2. The Polish economy has been improving in last two or three years; there are new projects coming up everywhere in the country. The demand for natural stone is also increasing again in line with more building activity though porcelain is increasingly being used. However, Poland is now facing a problem similar to that in other western countries, which is a severe shortage of workers. Youngsters prefer other professions; the natural stone industry is seen by many as 'backward'
3. Poland has been one of the few reliable markets for stone, especially granite, especially in the application of tombstones and also pavings. Manufacturing tombstones, frequently with imported granites, remains one of the main activities of the stonemasons. Black granite remains the most popular. There are around 100 companies with single wire ans multiwire machines in Poland. These are the companies, mostly small sized, who buy blocks to cut the thick slabs used in tombstones. But finding installers of tombstones, is a serious bottleneck.
4. According to some wholesalers the preferences for slabs are currently porcelain slabs in the first place, followed by quartz, and then natural stone. But what is also true is natural stone is the preferred material in the premium segment of the market, in luxury homes, for example. The Premium segment is also a fast growing sector in the economically dynamic Polish economy.
5. In conclusion, the Polish stone industry is beginning to look similar in many aspects to the other European countries. Greater automation, problems of shortage of labour, over supplied, and with natural stone increasingly seen as a product for the premium segment in housing and other high-end construction.
