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Strong domestic demand stimulated a sharp increase in China's imports of stone, as shown in the figures for the first eight months from Shanghai, the largest external trade port of the country.
Shanghai imported 246,800 tons of marble, granite and other sorts of stone between January and August, a year-on-year growth of 16.6 percent.
Most of the imports came from Egypt, India, Italy, Spain and Turkey. Imports from Turkey and India in the period soared at a rate of 668 percent and 88 percent respectively, compared with thesame period of last year.
Thanks to improvements in China's processing capacity and techniques, unprocessed stone imports rose, while finished stone product imports decreased.
It is reported that China consumed 100 million square meters of stone last year, becoming the largest stone consumer in the world.
(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2002)
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