In Palestine, there are over 200 stone quarrying, cutting, shaping, and polishing establishments employing over 1100 people and with an annual production of 2.4 million sq. The local market is expected to be the most promising in terms of growing demand for limestone in housing and other low rise buildings. Most of these machines are sourced from Europe and, in particular, from Italy. Despite a healthy domestic market, owing to disruptions due to inavailability of the supply of raw materials, electricity, and limited allocations of water, most establishments are not operating at full production capacity. These constraints are in the process of being relieved.
Investment is already underway in the rehabilitation of the electrical supply grid.
Export to Arab countries has been an ongoing process for several years to neighboring countries such as Jordan, and regional countries such as Kuwait. However, with the new political agreements unfolding, promising greater regional market access and more intimate business relationships, Palestinian producers are becoming more outward looking in terms of markets. Regional markets present particularly promising prospects for growth to those companies currently strong in their domestic market and wishing to expand their sales. Europe also presents an interesting challenge for this sector. With exports to Europe already underway, albeit in very limited volumes especially in comparison to domestic sales, certain European market segments present an excellent potential.