The region

The Crema Valencia marble is extracted around the town of Barcheta, located in the province of Valencia - Spain. The town´s name shows the evidence of its Islamic origin as it used to be a muslim farmhouse inside the area of Jativa, conquered by the King Jaime I. In 1488 and under the administration of the Tallada landlords, got independence from Jativa. During the 19th century, vineyards and other dry cultivations prospered in this area. Despite this, there was a great development with the creation of several wells which favoured the expansion of orange plantations over the dry agriculture, a situation that has continued until today.

This area´s economy is predominantely based on agriculture, where most of the population is employed. The majority of the area used for agriculture is focussed on fruits, olive trees, herbal plantations, vineyards and others. In addition, cattle hearding has also an important share on the local economy. It is also important to note the importance of the the natural stone industry on the local economy, with marble, granite and sandstone as the most relevant natural stones extracted in the local quarries.

The marble

The Crema Valencia marble is currently extracted by a single quarry, which is responsible for supplying the whole market. The quarry has a considerable dimension, where blocks with large dimension are extracted. For the moment, there are no problems in terms of market supply. But because there is a single quarry extracting this stone, this raises questions about its future sustainability.

The Crema Valencia is a unique type of marble in terms of appearance, not having many direct competitors in Spain. This material has been extracted for decades (its common to find worktops from the 20´s and 30´s), where despite having less availability, it has a well-developed and mature market demand on several countries.

Overall analysis

One of the most interesting aspects of the Crema Valencia is its singularity: there is just one quarry extracting it and it is a very peculiar stone in terms of look. In addition, this marble has some very good technical properties, being recommended for a diversity of applications.

But on the other hand, it has been increasingly difficult to find blocks with the highest quality. The majority of blocks available in the market present some dispersed veinage, which changes the original layout of the stone.