Stone and Marble industry in Palestine is considered one of the conventional and historic industries. Researches were in agreement with the fact that Palestine is one of those countries in which raw material for construction stone is available at commercial quantities, and distinguished for its type, quality and multicolor.
Marble and stone industry is one of the most important productive sectors in Palestine and has historically played a prominent role in its economy. This sector contributes approximately 25% to the overall Palestinian industrial revenue, and 4.5% of the total Palestinian GDP. The stone and marble industry is also distinguished for having the largest percentage of the employment of the Palestinian workforce, with more than 13,500 workers engaged in the sector.
Although this sector represents almost 4% of the world output, it represents only 2% of the added value. The reason is the lack of the knowhow, many people invest money by renting, buying quarries and they discover that there are no good quality or no huge quantities.
This industry is booming and the market share is increasing due to the high demand of customers from all over the world. The annual sales of Stone and Marble world wise has increased at an estimated rate of 10% and the annual consumption of stone reached up to 600 million square meters with a value of around 28 billion dollars. The Palestinian production of stone is about 4% of the world's Stone production. The Palestinian stone was also introduced to the Arab markets, Europe, United States, China and other countries, but the four years of the Intifada, created many obstacles in transportation, sales, importing Marble and exporting the Palestinian Stone Products.
In spite of the fact that this industry is well developed and plays a major role in contributing to the Palestinian national gross production and employment, it lacks the existence of sound scientific and geological studies, and skilled labour which help in future planning for this industry.
