Mr. Manuel Sánchez Pérez, Chairman of the Spanish Natural Stone Foundation. “We will have to go on being imaginative in how we market and promote our products, and much more austere in our expenditure”

                In your opinion, what are the expectations of the companies in the natural stone sector as they look ahead to 2012?

               Spanish stone companies are making a huge effort to stay active by adjusting their costs to remain competitive on the international markets, increasing their commercial presence in those markets and taking part in trade fairs all over the world.  All of this effort may amount to little if the predictions by economic experts indicating that Europe and the U.S. are entering a new recession and that our country’s growth rate will be slower than what was expected by the Spanish Government turn out to be true.  I think this will make it very hard for the Spanish stone companies that have withstood the four years of the downturn that we have already gone through to survive. This is the panorama that lies ahead. We will have to go on being imaginative in how we market and promote our products, and much more austere in our expenditure.

                In your opinion, what are the most positive values of the Spanish natural stone industry in the European context? 

At the FDP, we believe that our products enjoy a good position on the international markets, one that we should maintain and, if possible, improve as much as we can with the most suitable commercial strategies. To be more specific, we need to increase our commercial efforts in Europe, which is our natural market for many of our products, such as slate, granite, sandstone or limestone, and marble. 

Europe is a highly demanding market in terms of quality, compliance with its regulations and sustainable production. The Federation has been asking the Administration for greater support to ensure that our companies can remain in this important market. Although we have not achieved this goal yet, the FDP maintains its demands, because other countries are breaking into this market to the detriment of our products. This lack of support may be a mistake, because exports to Europe are helping our economy a lot now; there’s no question about that.

The strong point of the natural stone sector has always been its exports and presence in foreign markets. What does the sector need in order to continue to strengthen this area?

Yes, Spanish natural stone is very well known in all markets, so much so that stones from other countries are marketed under the names of Spanish stones to occupy a market share at the expense of years of effort by our businesspeople enhancing their products. 

This is a consequence of the global market, where it is possible to buy or offer products from the four corners of the earth, but where people do not always play by the rules. However, this is the situation in which we find ourselves and the global market means that our businesspeople have to optimise their output, improve their marketing; in short, they have to stand out in comparison to other competitions in order to keep on selling their natural stone.

The Federation organises pavilions with groups of Spanish companies at international trade fairs. How would it be possible for a higher number of companies from the sector to take part in this or other international trade fairs?

Every year, the Spanish Natural Stone Federation, of which I am Chairman, organises four or five group pavilions for companies wishing to take part in international trade fairs depending on their interest and with the support of the Spanish Foreign Trade Institute (ICEX). 

Every year we consult the companies to know which are the markets and the international trade fairs they might be attending the following year, and according to their intentions, we submit the International Promotion Plan for the Natural Stone Sector to the ICEX. 

We have found that small and medium enterprises that had not taken part before are now participating in these pavilions. The Spanish market has stalled and exporting is the only way to survive. The Federation has placed its experience and work at the service of Spanish companies wishing to operate in international markets by joining our pavilions.

How would you define the state of relations between the FDP and the Administration right now? What are the main requests that the Federation is submitting to the Administration? Has any progress been made in securing the Administration’s support for Spanish stone products? 

Relations between the FDP and the Administration have always been based on mutual collaboration and dialogue. At the moment, the Federation is engaged in talks with the Administration regarding three issues, among others, that are of great importance to our sector.   

On the one hand, work has been ongoing to ensure that natural stone products are in line with the Technical Code for Building and that architects can use them in their projects with the backing of these regulations. 

The FDP is also engaged in talks with the Directorate-General of Traffic for the limit on road transfer of blocks to be increased to 30 tonnes, which will lead to lower costs and important energy savings for our companies.   

Lastly, the Federation is part of a working group that has been drawing up the list of inert products along with the Ministry of Industry, the Torroja Institute and the Ministry of the Environment. The majority of natural stone products have been included on this list, which is a great boost to the sector in environmental and economic terms.

What is your view of the creation of COMINROC, the association of Spanish employers in the extractive mining industry? 

In this the second year of existence of COMINROC (Confederation of Industrial Rock and Mineral Extractive Industries), which is chaired by the Spanish Natural Stone Foundation, we believe that it was a good idea to create this employers’ association along with FDA, ATEDY, AINDEX, ANCADE, OFICEMEN and IBERSIL, as a platform for defending and promoting the extractive industry in Spain. We are very satisfied with the work that is being done.

Speaking from your position, what is your view of the commitment that companies in the sector have to innovation and R&D?

 Research, innovation, design and creativity applied to natural stone products are the way to go for our companies if they wish to see the sector evolve and continue, but there is nothing new about this as it has been the case for several years now. However, they may have to be even more ambitious and more imaginative to make sure that this becomes a constant and a reality in our sector. 

These periods of crisis mean that we all have to look for new ways to keep our companies afloat and the money that we invest in our R&D goals should be used so as to ensure the best possible result. 

Our products still have a long way to go as regards the application of design or innovation and we, the businesspeople, have to find the most suitable formulae so that we can take them into account in our production.

Before the next edition of the PIEDRA (STONE) trade fair in May 2012, what is to be expected from this meeting, in your opinion?

The organisers of PIEDRA at IFEMA are aware of the difficult situation of the economy and are thinking of preparing a more interesting offering for the trade fair, by including PIEDRA in the International Construction Week in Madrid, in which CONSTRUTEC and VETECO are also taking part. This is a project that according to the organisers, will give better coverage to sectors in the sphere of architecture and construction and will therefore be more interesting to them. 

In its role as the promoter of PIEDRA, the Federation will promote it among our businesspeople and also among foreign companies, to encourage foreign buyers to attend the fair.