K: SCHIPPER: Hi, I’m K. Schipper with the latest from Radio Stone Update.
Don’t pack your suitcase for Orlando, Fla., just yet. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA), announced late last week that their big February tradeshow, the eighth annual International Builders’ Show and the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) will be an all-virtual event.
Scheduled for Feb. 9-11 at the Orange County Convention Center, the onsite event is being converted to a virtual event with extended program starting Feb 8. Registration for the virtual event is free to all NKBA and NAHB members, and attendees will have access to KBIS and IBS exhibitors and programming. The new virtual format will allow participants to see the latest product launches and cutting-edge housing and design innovations, hear from top leaders in the industry, and take part in online education courses.
Leaders of both the NAHB and NKBA expressed strong support for the move. Bill Darcy, CEO of the NKBA said, “The safety and well-being of our attendees, partners, exhibitors, site workers and staff has always been our top priority. As we now cross the 16-weeks-out mark, it was time to transition to 100% focus on a virtual event.”
The two men say that support from the exhibitor community has been solid, and they are working to transform KBIS into an exceptional show experience for everyone. Design and Construction Week is expected to return to Orlando as an in-person event in February 2022.
However, it’s still a go for a full in-person event for Coverings 2021 in Orlando on April 13-16.
The cloud-based Marmomac ReStart Digital Edition hosted almost 5,000 industry professionals during its run from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2. Participants from 135 countries included 200 top buyers invited by show producer Veronafiere and the Italian Foreign Trade Commission.
Marmomac ReStart, organized by event producer Veronafiere after cancellation of the traditional in-person event in Verona, also drew 210 companies that exhibited with virtual stands. More than 100 of them were from international firms from 22 countries. Additionally more than 3,100 products and 840 projects were uploaded to exhibitor profiles.
Not surprisingly, the greatest amount of traffic came from Italy itself, but participants also came from India, Brazil, the United States, Turkey, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany and China.
As with any good tradeshow, the exhibition also featured an educational component of 158 live streaming sessions, including webinars, company presentations and Marmomac Academy refresher courses for architects and designers. The most-popular market focus session involved Brazil, although there was also interest in information about the United States and China.
Giovanni Mantovani, CEO of Veronafiere, says he’s very pleased with Marmomac ReStart, and that the 60% international mix of participants simply confirms the huge appeal of Marmomac.
EMERSON SCHWARTZKOPF: This is Emerson Schwartzkopf, editor of Stone Update Magazine. U.S. imports of hard surfaces took another big step up in August; the $379.4 million in materials topped July’s total by 14.8%. Quartz surfaces made the biggest jump, with $113.5 million in goods passing through ports-of-entry marking a 26.9% month-to-month increase. Natural-stone materials also fared well, as granite gained 12.1% and marble moved up 12.3% in August.
It also looks like hard-surface imports are very, very close to recovering from the pandemic slowdown. This August’s $379.4 million total trails August 2019 by only one percent – a huge catch-up from the 39.1% year-to-year gap with imports in May.
You’ll get all the latest on imports in the next edition of Hard-Surface Report that will go live on the Internet later this week. Watch your email for details.
K. SCHIPPER: Long-time industry supplier Salem Stone is sporting a new name and a new look. Its parent, Salem Distributing Company, will evolve into Salem Fabrication Technologies Group, Inc., with the name change representing the company across all the industries in which it offers machinery, tools, supplies, equipment and services.
Salem Fabrication Technologies Group will have two distinct divisions that will focus much of its effort toward technology and fabrication solutions for the glass industry. Salem Fabrication Supplies was formerly known in specific industries as Salem Stone, Salem Flat Glass and Mirror, Salem Vision and Salem Advanced Surfaces. A second division will focus on glass fabrication machinery and technical services.
Salem Fabrication Technologies Group is a 100% employee-owned certified company, and is an industry leading supplier of fabrication machinery, tooling, supplies and technical service expertise.
Dekton®, the Cosentino Group’s ultra-compact surface, now qualifies as a carbon-neutral product. It achieved carbon-neutrality for its entire life cycle – from the extraction of the raw materials and the calculation of the direct and indirect emissions from its production cycle and those derived from its use, to the end of the product’s life.
The recognition is an important achievement in the role of the Spanish multinational company’s efforts against climate change. It comes as Cosentino in recent years has fostered measures to achieve greater efficiency in terms of energy, consumption of resources, use of renewable electricity and sustainable mobility policies.
Cosentino Group’s environmental director, Antonio Urdiales, says “This achievement, that encompasses the whole life cycle of Dekton, fills us with pride as it recognizes the work done over the years towards carbon neutrality, circular economy and the fight against climate change.”
As part of Cosentino’s commitment, various Dekton colors are made with recycled materials from the product’s own manufacturing process. In 2016, Cosentino obtained an Environmental Product Declaration for Dekton.
Don’t follow this man’s example. The Morris, N.J. “Daily Voice” reports that a former marble and granite wholesaler from Tenafly, N.J., pleaded guilty last month in federal court to his role in a scheme which allowed accomplices to pose as customers to secure a $17 million line of credit that the company defaulted on.
Rajendra Kankariya was the president and part owner of Lotus Exim International Inc., also known as LEI. The company fraudulently obtained a line of credit and then had it extended by fabricating or inflating many of the accounts receivable. Without sufficient collateral, LEI employees created fake email addresses on behalf of LEI customers so they could pose as those customers and answer the victim bank’s and outside auditor’s inquiries about the accounts receivable.
“The scheme involved numerous fraudulent accounts receivable where the outstanding balances were either inflated or entirely fabricated,” says the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case. Kankariya is to be sentenced in mid-January.
A story in the Aspen (Colo.) Times reports that environmental groups in Pitkin County are keeping a close eye on Colorado Stone Quarries, the operator of the Pride of America Mine – perhaps better known as the Yule Quarry -- outside Marble, Colo.
Back in March, the Army Corps of Engineers determined that the quarry violated the Clean Water Act when it relocated Yule Creek to make way for a mining road. Colorado Stone Quarries is now retroactively applying for a permit from the Army Corps, which requires a 30-day public notice, public review and comments.
A group, the Crystal River Caucus, has asked county commissioners in both Pitkin and Gunnison counties to become involved during the process. Although Yule Creek drains into Pitkin County, the mine sits in Gunnison County.
Caucus chair John Emerick referred to the current situation as a mess. Two years ago, the quarry diverted a 1,500-foot section of Yule Creek from its natural channel to build an access road.
Ironically, the move probably spared Yule Creek the impacts of a diesel spill last October. The quarry was fined more than $18,000 by Colorado’s Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety for the spill, which also revealed the diversion.
The mine is owned by the Italian company Red Graniti and employs 30-40 people. The quarry produces a pure white marble that’s seen in the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Remember, you’ll find all the industry news in our online newsletter, Slab and Sheet. Don’t miss the latest issue of Stone Update Magazine at magazine.stonemage.com. And don’t forget to look at the notes on this episode’s webpage for links to everything in this broadcast.
I’m K. Schipper for Radio Stone Update, and we’ll see you here again soon.