China expects to produce more than 100 million sq.m. of stone materials by the end of this year, including granite, marble and terrazzo.

China's stone materials production has been growing at an average annual rate of 13 percent over the past 15 years, according to Zhang Wenbo, vice-chairman of the China Stone Materials Industry Association.

China is among the countries of the world with the largest and most varied stone reserves, and is well-known internationally for granite and white marble production.

The country now has markets for its stone materials in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Germany, the United States, Russia, Thailand, and Indonesia, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions. It expects to export 700 million US dollars worth of stone materials this year.

Zhang said that China has made great headway in expanding cooperation with overseas partners by setting up at least 400 foreign-funded stone materials production ventures, and has also made progress in improving its stone materials production technology.

In recent years, China has introduced equipment from Italy, Germany, and other countries which has helped the development of this industry.

China has more than 100 enterprises manufacturing stone production equipment, and exports this equipment to Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Hungary, he said.