Brazilian company Thor Granitos main aim for 2009 is to guarantee the maintenance of markets overseas. The marble and tiles company, which is headquartered in Itaborai Rio de Janeiro, in the Brazilian Southeast, exports 90% of its production of 140,000 square meters of granite to over 40 countries, among them the United States.

According to the firm's financial director, Neres Infante, the company exports mainly marble and granite plates and tiles. Exports by Thor Granitos started in 1991, to the United States, and some countries in Latin America.

A large part of the products traded by Thor are extracted from own mines. "The company has 20 mines in different locations in the North, Midwest and Southeast of Brazil, guaranteeing better supply to customers in terms of time and quality," said Infante.

According to him, this differential also makes if possible for the company to provide price estimates to constructions and projects, offering granite without volume or quality restraints, with special attention to the Labrador Green, Peacock Jade, New Venetian Gold, New Venetian Wave, Giallo São Francisco and Golden King lines.

To maintain the quality of the material from the moment of extraction, the company counts on an industrial park with state-of-the-art machinery and equipment made in Italy, by the most renowned companies in the sector. "Diggers, loaders, ovens, exclusive machinery like polishers and chisels offer high performance in the production process, guaranteeing greater quality to the finished product," explained the director.

To win new clients in Brazil and abroad, the company usually participates in fairs in the sector in Brazil, like Vitoia Stone Fair, in Espiro Santo and Construir, in Rio de Janeiro. Apart from that, the company usually closely checks construction fairs in Germany, in the United States and in Italy.

The Arab countries purchased a small share of the total exported by Thor, around 5%, but the target is to expand sales to the region in the near future. "They are markets with great buying power and where we have much space to grow," said Infante.

On the domestic market, the company is already present in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espiito Santo, Pernambuco, Sa Paulo, Mato Grosso, Goia and the Federal District. The products offered to domestic and foreign clients are: granite plates, calibrated tiles and finished works.

Established in September 1986 in the city of Itaborai in the state of Rio de Janeiro, as an ornamental stone extracting, processing and trade company, Thor Granitos is now a prominent group in the sector of ornamental stone and the main exporter of processed granite in Latin America.