History and Production Facts

Stone has been the choice for edification by the man throughout the ages. Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and other ancient cultures immortalized their gods with stone temples and tombs.  The ruins of their urbanization give testament today to the structural durability and beauty of natural stone.  Marbles used by the Emperor Hadrian to construct his enormous villa near Rome, and those used in the Parthenon in Athens are, among others, still quarried to these days.

The demand for natural architectural stone has increased so radically within the last twenty years that soon quarrying has become a major industry for many countries around the world.  And whereas previously some of these countries sent raw blocks to Italy for fabrication into marketable precut units, most now have installed machinery to handle their own lines of production.  Brazil, for example, is now one of the world’s largest suppliers of granite, exporting both slab and precut tile material prepared in local manufacturing plants.

The use of natural architectural stone in the U.S. has been growing remarkably. The consumption has doubled in the last 5 years, according to USGS. The internal production is modest and restricted to few types of stones. Therefore, the imports not only follow the consumption increase but also represent the market’s biggest share. Nowadays, the imported natural architectural stones represent 94% of the U.S. market in value.

Today, roughly 50% of the granite commercialized in the U.S. comes from Brazil. The high quality products and superior service has positioned Arc Granite & Marble among the top natural stone suppliers in this country.