30.07.2019
It is no secret to anyone that the main world is concentrated mainly in the G7 countries - Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Turkey, Finland and, of course, China. It is the Celestial Empire, supplying the market with over 1/3 of the volume of natural stone products, that is present in almost any national market - and not everyone can compete with this giant. The greatest problems arise for the producers of those states that are themselves actively engaged in the extraction of granites and its closest analogues. However, Russia stands apart in this group of countries. We will briefly describe how the domestic stone industry manages to defeat the Chinese in this article.
What do we know about Chinese granite?
First of all, it should be noted that under the commercial classification "granites" in Russia often (although for reasons that are not entirely clear) include more than two dozen of its varieties - syenite, labradorite and a number of others. In the EU, the USA and a number of Asian countries, such liberties are not accepted, and the exact geological formation used in its manufacture is indicated in the certificate of conformity for each product.
What is the lion's share of Chinese stone entering the Russian market? There are incredibly few classical granites among them, no more than 7-8%, and the main ones are black. But even in this case, the truly prestigious Shanxi Black actually belongs to the basalt group. gabbro(which is clearly seen in its physical and technical characteristics - density of about 3000 kg / m3, moisture absorption of about 0.1%, abrasion in the range of 0.1-0.15 g / cm3, etc.). The rest of the products are mainly dolomites and nepheline syenites, similar indicators for which are 20-30% worse. In addition, using less strict Russian quality control, under the guise of well-known brands, regional dealers often sell painted fakes (coming from China in the same way to other countries - but with a mandatory warning about the color and at a much lower price).
Competing analogues of Russian stone
The main competitors of Chinese granites in the Russian market are rocks from the deposits of the Urals and especially the north-west of the country - the Murmansk and Leningrad regions. And since a large proportion of the “Chinese” falls precisely on black monochrome varieties, it makes sense to compare them with gabbro diabase The Kola Peninsula and Karelia, whose deposits are considered to be among the best on the planet in terms of quality. Domestic from this stone is the standard of coverage for any places with a high intensity of passenger traffic (metro, stations, crossings under the highways of megacities, etc.). The characteristics of strength, abrasion, moisture resistance and color saturation are equivalent to the more expensive Indian gabbroid Absolut Black and even exceed the performance of the famous Chinese Shanxi - but at the same time it is much cheaper.
Russian-made is inferior in detail and accuracy to European geometry, but clearly no worse than Chinese - and therefore, at least, worthy of becoming a full-fledged replacement for it. In fact, this is exactly what happened on the Russian market in the past few years - although the depreciation of the ruble against the yuan also played a significant role in replacing imported products from the Middle Kingdom.
Chinese granite consists of various types, each of which has its own beautiful name. Yellow tiger, livadia, pink pearls - all these names can be found in Chinese granite, which, according to its characteristics, is not only not worse than material from other countries, but also better than them in some parameters.
Let's take a closer look at Chinese granite. If you are planning to lay out granite floors, choose Chinese material. China occupies one of the first places in the world in the extraction and export of this rock - the volume of annual production is over 50 billion cubic meters. m. Experts have approximately 90 colors and patterns of granite, which is far superior to other leading countries in the extraction of material. Approximately 85% of all production comes from the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Shandong. In addition, granite is mined in another 24 provinces of China. After extraction, the stone is transported to stone processing enterprises, of which there are a large number in the country, from the smallest workshops with manual processing to complex conglomerates with the latest technologies.
Made in China.
Unfortunately, for many consumers, this mark on the product means a low-quality product. However, granite is not one of them. The characteristics that the material has do not differ from the parameters that granite has as a natural stone. It contains the same ingredients, including feldspar, quartz, minerals, etc. Therefore, do not assume that Italian or Dutch granite is better than Chinese. In addition, it is very likely that the material brought from other countries was purchased in China. If you choose the material to lay out the steps, granite from China will not be inferior in quality to other manufacturers and is perfect for these purposes. The quality of the material from China should not be in doubt. In addition, many manufacturers in the country use high-tech Italian equipment for processing, so only products with the best characteristics are exported.
Advantages of Chinese granite.
Chinese granite is a very strong and durable material. Manufacturers guarantee a service life of at least 500 years. Many parts of the Great Wall of China were built of granite, and these are the ones that have been preserved in excellent condition. The great advantage of granite from China is the variety of patterns and shades. This means that the Chinese material has a large mineral composition, which gives the stone gray, burgundy, green, blue, orange, pink and green colors.
Comparison of Chinese Granite with Other Countries Chinese material undoubtedly has the best performance compared to stone from other countries. The strength of Chinese granite is higher, less abrasion and hygroscopicity. These advantages allow the buyer who wants to lay out granite window sills and use them in any conditions to make a choice. Chinese granite is used as a finishing material for walls, including rooms with high humidity, stairs, countertops, columns, window sills, fireplaces. The material exhibits increased resistance to stains, chips, scratches and high temperatures. The stone does not undergo combustion, keeps cool and does not heat up from the sun.
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Pink pearls, maple leaf, yellow tiger, livadia... At first glance, the names of either gourmet dishes or exotic plants. In fact, this is nothing more than a variety of Chinese granite. Surprised? Yes, this happens too. And, by the way, it is in no way inferior to granite mined in other countries, and in some respects even surpasses analogues. But first things first. Let's start with where and how granite is mined in China.
Acquaintance with Chinese granite
In terms of granite exports, China occupies a leading position in the world, and all because, according to rough estimates, the volume of this rock in the country is more than 50 billion m3. At the same time, experts count about 90 types of granites of a wide variety of patterns and colors. For comparison, just over twenty species of this rock are mined in India.
The main granite mining centers are located in three provinces, namely Fujian, Guangdong and Shandong. These three provinces cover approximately 85% of China's granite mining market. In general, another 24 provinces are engaged in granite mining in the country.
Stone processing plants in China range from small and handicraft with more manual labor to ultra-modern large production complexes equipped with the most advanced equipment.
Marked "Made in China"
For many, an inscription stating that the goods are made in China sounds like a sentence. But if we are talking about granite, then such marking should not frighten the buyer at all. Now let's explain why.
The thing is that the main characteristics of Chinese granite are absolutely identical to those that any other granite has. Natural stone from China also consists of minerals such as quartz, feldspars, dark-colored minerals, etc. And if you are convinced that Chinese granite is worse than what was brought from Italy or, for example, Holland, do not believe it. There is a high probability that such granite was purchased in China, and it was simply assigned a trademark registered in another country.
As for the quality of granite, it is basically excellent. It all depends on the reliability of the seller: many well-known manufacturers (more precisely, processors) of granite in China have long acquired Italian equipment, so products of exceptionally high quality are supplied to the foreign market.
Advantages of Chinese granite.
Of a number of advantages that Chinese granite has, among the first can be called its strength and durability. Granite can stand (just imagine!) for more than 500 years. And perhaps the best confirmation of these two virtues is the Great Wall of China. It is known for certain that some sections of this grandiose structure were built of granite, and it was they who “survived” to this day safe and sound.
Another no less important advantage of Chinese granite is the variety of colors. The mineral composition of granite mined in China is such that, in addition to the standard gray shades, there are slabs of dark red, bluish-green, orange, pinkish and even green.
Granite granite strife?
In relation to granite mined in other countries, Chinese granite has relatively better parameters. It is more durable, has a lower abrasion coefficient, and, finally, has a lower percentage of hygroscopicity. In other words, Chinese granite is much more resistant to environmental influences, more durable and resistant. And most importantly and pleasantly, at the same time, its cost is much lower. But at the same time, the attractiveness of Chinese granite lies also in its high quality. After all, the quality standards of granite processing in China are much stricter than in other countries involved in granite mining.
If we compare Chinese granite with other rocks, it should be noted that, for example, marble, unlike granite, is considered practically unsuitable for street construction. Granite, in turn, is used for the construction of embankments, the manufacture of stairs and cladding of the outer walls of buildings, because. tolerates temperature fluctuations well.
Scope of application of Chinese granite
Due to its properties, Chinese granite has found wide application in architecture, in the manufacture of monuments and interior design.
In the interior, granite is used for wall decoration (including in wet rooms), stairs, creating countertops, columns. It is worth noting that granite is suitable for outdoor fireplace cladding. Granite is an excellent material for use in the kitchen and other food preparation areas. Under normal conditions, it is resistant to stains, gouges, scratches and scorching. Granite does not burn and is not damaged by hot pans and open flames.
Chinese granite accepts the temperature of the room, but always remains a little cooler. In turn, under the influence of direct sunlight, it heats up. To artificially heat the stone surface, you can use traditional underfloor heating and surface heating technologies. Granite from China is distinguished by its special strength, so it is often used for the construction of embankments, monuments, for facing various structures. It is also used to make obelisks and columns.
The most common stone for monuments is granite. It is a crystalline rock with unique properties. Decorative qualities allow architects and designers to create a unique look for buildings and structures. Mechanical wear resistance, high strength and frost resistance contribute to the long-term operation of construction projects. Granite is also popular in the manufacture of ritual monuments.
Granite stone is formed in the bowels of the earth's crust from a fiery-liquid igneous rock. The more quartz in the composition, the stronger the granite. However, it is much more difficult to machine. The decorative features of granite depend on the color of feldspars and quartz. The stone is found in nature from white to black colors (gabbro-diabase), light pink to dark red. The most widely used materials are from granite mined in Chinese, Karelian and Ukrainian deposits.
Chinese granite appeared on the Russian market a little over 10 years ago. This stone consists mainly of feldspar, mica and nepheline. Quartz in granite is less than 54%, which contributes to easier processing (cutting, milling, grinding, etc.). Therefore, monuments from Chinese granite are made without high energy costs.
Reviews of Chinese granite mainly emphasize the special characteristic personality of the pattern, attractive appearance and surface luster. Yellow pearl, maple leaf are some varieties of granite from China. Products from this country are not inferior in characteristics to granite from other countries, and even surpass them in some parameters.
The price of Chinese granite is significantly lower than world analogues with unchanged characteristics.
Karelian granite is a natural stone from Karelia (Drugoretsky deposit). High physical and mechanical characteristics, color palette and uniqueness of some types of granite are unmatched in the world. Perfect black color, low abrasion, safety of applied inscriptions and drawings, high frost resistance - all this is combined in gabbro-diabase and gives good reviews for Karelian granite. This stone, in addition to facing and building material, is used as a finishing stone (mosaic checkers, etc.). Monuments from Karelian granite durable and retain the quality of polishing for many years. Precision engineering parts made of gabbro-diabase have great success. The price of Karelian granite corresponds to the average cost of a similar stone mined in Russian deposits.
The Ukrainian market of granite stone is represented by the Zhytomyr deposit, which includes the Emelyanovsky, Vasilyevsky and Pokostovsky developments. Ukrainian granite is also mined at the Simonsky, Konstantinovsky and Kapustyansky deposits. Its strength and other characteristics practically do not differ from granite mined in Karelia and China. The reasonable price of Ukrainian granite and its quality allow private owners, and not just large companies and wealthy businessmen, to equip cottages and adjacent sites with them. Monuments made of Ukrainian granite, as well as monuments, paving stones on city streets and park alleys serve for more than a hundred years without additional repair or alteration. Time-tested products have an impact on positive feedback on Ukrainian granite.
Granite is widely used in the construction of embankments, stairs, building cladding and interior decoration of offices, hotels, etc. The stone is used to create monuments and obelisks, to make monuments and paving yards in the form of paving stones.
Many enterprises that manufacture monuments, tiles and slabs from natural stone want to buy Chinese granite in bulk. A stone from China attracts with its relatively low cost and high values of the most important technical characteristics.
The deposits of the Celestial Empire give the consumer granite with a unique pattern and an extensive palette of shades. Demand for Chinese types of granite in Russia is consistently high. A variety of shades, decent quality and affordable price - these are the three pillars on which the popularity of Chinese granite among the target audience is based.
What attracts Chinese granite consumer
The rock is formed in the depths of solidified volcanic lava and has excellent strength, durability and frost resistance. The minimum value of the last indicator of Chinese granite is 50 cycles. Thus, less than half a century of granite products will not last. Typically, the service life is calculated in centuries, which is demonstrated by embankments, monuments and other architectural structures made of granite.
Strength depends on the amount of quartz in the composition of the rock. On the one hand, the more it is, the stronger the stone, and on the other hand, the harder it is to process. Chinese granite contains up to 54% quartz, so it is easy to saw, mill, grind, giving products:
the desired surface texture;
The increased content of feldspar and mica reduces the hardness of the stone, which reduces the cost of manufacturing products from Chinese granite. The processing of such granite does not require excessive energy consumption for sawing blocks and finishing products.
What determines the price of Chinese granite
The cost of natural stone is determined by various factors, such as strength, water absorption, frost resistance and decorative properties. Granite is famous for its outstanding strength characteristics:
compressive strength - for a dry stone, it reaches 604 kg / cm2;
hardness equal to 6-7 according to the table. Moss;
melting point over 1200 degrees C;
extremely small water absorption - from 0.2 to 0.5%.
The density of granite is also very high. Its average value is 3.7 g / cm3, and the weight of a block with a volume of 1 cubic meter is approximately 2.6 thousand kg. Density is one of the essential factors. It is determined by the ratio of quartz, mica and spar, affects the strength, porosity and water absorption of the rock.
Want to buy cheap Chinese granite?
Contact the main office or regional representative office of MegaGranit! Twenty years of successful experience in the natural stone market guarantees you all the benefits of pragmatic business cooperation with a reliable partner that supplies direct granite from China:
you can buy a wholesale batch of stone products at the manufacturer's price without overpaying to intermediaries;
our efficient logistics is a guarantee of timely shipment and stable prices for customers;
we guarantee high quality granite;
An individual loyalty program for regular customers will make our financial relationship even more profitable for you.
We have our own production and warehouse of finished products. We have introduced modern technologies for sawing and processing granite. Contact us, cooperation with us has already been highly appreciated by enterprises in many regions of Russia. We are waiting for your calls and applications!
