Archive:Stone, abrasive and insulating materials production statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1
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- Data from January 2009. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article belongs to a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the various economic activities in the European Union (EU). The present article covers the production of stone, abrasive and insulating materials, which is part of the other non-metallic minerals sector. The activities covered in this article correspond to two different NACE Rev 1.1 groups, which are:
- the working of stone (NACE Group 26.7), which includes the activities of cutting, shaping and finishing stone;
- the manufacture of miscellaneous non-metallic mineral products (NACE Group 26.8), which includes the production of abrasive products, non-metallic mineral yarns, and mineral insulating materials (for both heat or sound insulation).
_Structural_profile,_EU-27,_2006_(1).PNG)
Main statistical findings
_Index_of_production,_EU-27_(2000%3D100).PNG)
_Production_of_selected_products,_EU-27,_2007_(1).PNG)
Working of stone
There were 37.0 thousand enterprises in the Member States for whom the working of stone (NACE Group 26.7) was their main activity in 2006. These enterprises employed 203.4 thousand persons, about one in every eight people (12.8 %) within the total EU-27 workforce of other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing (NACE Division 26). From a turnover of EUR 17.0 billion, the EU-27’s working of stone subsector created EUR 6.4 billion of added value, which represented 8.0 % of the value added generated by the other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing sector as a whole.
Just over one half (51.2 %) of the value added generated by the EU-27’s working of stone subsector in 2006 was generated in Italy and Spain, two countries that were also amongst the most specialised in this activity. Among the Member States for which information is available[1], Portugal was the most specialised in this activity, the relative contribution of the working of stone subsector to non-financial business economy (NACE Sections C to I and K) value added being almost three times the EU-27 average in 2006.
The cumulative fall in the EU-27’s production index for the working of stone in the period between 2001 and 2004 took output back close to its level recorded for 1997. In the three years through to 2007, however, the production index for the working of stone rose at a similar rate to the index for other non-metallic mineral products, resulting in an average rate of growth in output over the ten year period of 0.9 % per year.
Tangible investment of EUR 0.9 billion in the EU-27’s working of stone subsector in 2006 corresponded to 5.9 % of investment across the other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing sector. In comparison to the level of value added generated by the working of stone subsector, this corresponded to an investment rate of 14.1 %, which was significantly lower than the average rate (19.1 %) recorded for other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing in 2006.
Average personnel costs of EUR 23.5 thousand per employee within the EU-27’s working of stone subsector were EUR 7.1 thousand less than the average across other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing in 2006. Nevertheless, personnel costs in the subsector accounted for a much higher proportion of operating expenditure than across other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing (26.8 % compared with 21.6 %), underlining the relatively labour-intensive nature of working with stone.
The apparent labour productivity of the EU-27’s working of stone subsector was EUR 31.5 thousand of value added per person employed in 2006, just over one third (37.5 %) less than the average generated by each person employed within other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing activities. Despite relatively low personnel costs in this subsector, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the working of stone subsector (133.7 %) remained lower than that for any of the other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing activities at the NACE group level and well below the average for all of these activities (164.5 %).
Manufacture of miscellaneous non-metallic mineral products
The manufacture of miscellaneous non-metallic mineral products (NACE Group 26.8) was an activity that employed 97.9 thousand persons in 2006 (6.2 % of the other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing workforce) in 3.7 thousand enterprises across the EU-27. These enterprises generated EUR 5.1 billion of value added in 2005, equivalent to just over one quarter (26.0 %) of the subsector's turnover. By far the largest of the two activities within this miscellaneous group was the manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products not elsewhere classified (NACE Class 28.82), which generated EUR 4.2 billion of added value in 2006 compared with EUR 1.5 billion for the production of abrasive products (NACE Class 26.81).
A little less than one third (31.1 %) of the value added generated by the EU-27’s miscellaneous non-metallic mineral products manufacturing subsector in 2005 came from Germany, which was about three times the size of the next largest contributions from Italy (11.0 %) and the United Kingdom (10.2 %). However, the relative contribution of this activity to the value added of the non-financial business economy was greatest in Slovenia (0.5 %), about five times the average for the EU-27 as a whole.
The development of the EU-27’s production index for miscellaneous non-metallic mineral products manufacturing was broadly similar to that for all other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing during the period between 1997 and 2007, albeit with a much steeper rise in output through from 2003. Over the ten-year period, the output of miscellaneous non-metallic mineral products rose by an average 2.5 % per year.
Tangible investment in the EU-27’s miscellaneous non-metallic mineral products manufacturing subsector was EUR 1.2 billion in 2006. Tangible investment within the subsector represented 7.5 % of all tangible investment across the activities of other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing in 2006. The level of tangible investment in this subsector was in line with its relative contribution to the value added generated across other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing as a whole, resulting in similar rates of investment, 17.3 % in 2005 compared with an average of 17.7 % for other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing.
Although personnel costs of EUR 38.9 thousand per employee on average in the EU-27’s miscellaneous non-metallic mineral products manufacturing subsector in 2005 were just over one quarter (27.1 %) more than the average across all other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing, they represented a smaller share of operating expenditure (20.1 % for the subsector compared with 23.5 % across other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing in the same year).
The apparent labour productivity of the EU-27’s miscellaneous non-metallic mineral products manufacturing subsector was EUR 52.3 thousand per person employed in 2005, which was 13.7 % higher than the average across other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing. However, with average personnel costs being so much higher, the wage adjusted labour productivity ratio for this subsector (134.4 %) in 2005 was much lower than the corresponding ratio (150.6 % in 2005) for the EU-27’s other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing activities.
Data sources and availability
The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.
Other data sources include short-term statistics (STS) and the PRODCOM statistics on the production of manufactured goods.
Context
The processes of transforming mineral raw materials such as clay, lime, sand or stone into other non-metallic mineral products (for use, among others, by construction, food and beverages manufacturing, or households in the form of consumer durables) tend to be energy-intensive. Indeed, energy costs accounted for 9.5 % of the purchases of goods and services in the EU’s other non-metallic mineral products manufacturing sector in 2006, the second highest ratio after non-energy mining and quarrying (NACE Subsection CB) among the industrial structural business statistics sectors. Within this sector, the share of energy costs in purchases of goods and services reached 14.9 % for the EU-27’s ceramic goods and clay products manufacturing subsector.
Current policy initiatives are focused on environmental impacts, energy strategies, and health and safety. Under the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP), independent consultants delivered studies to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry on the competitiveness of the ceramics and glass sectors in October 2008.
Challenges were identified, including ensuring the availability of energy and raw materials at affordable prices, the need to minimise energy waste, reduce energy use, as well as maintaining emissions within targets and removing tariff and non-tariff international barriers to trade. Suggested areas of development were a focus on the high quality and high value products end of the market, investment in cleaner technologies and environmental management systems, investment in more efficient and flexible automation technologies, improved and more targeted skills training programmes and efforts at a policy level to establish EU environmental regulations on a global platform.
See also
Further Eurostat information
Publications
- European Business: Facts and figures - 2009 edition
Main tables
Database
Dedicated section
External links
Notes
- ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and Romania, 2005; the Czech Republic, Malta and the Netherlands not available.