StatWatch: U.S. Stone Imports, October 2012
U.S. granite imports move in small steps, but a gain’s a gain. Other varieties show growth reminiscent of the boom years.
StatWatch is a snapshot of U.S. dimensional-stone imports, offering a summary and exclusive Stone Update analysis of data from the U.S. International Trade Commission. Comparisons are made mainly on an annual level to gauge market trends. Analysis is made on import figures of the latest month available.
All figures give are for October 2012 (change from October 2011 amounts in parentheses). “Worked” stone is material that’s shorn from boulders and blocks, and then cut in standard dimensional measures (such as slabs and tiles) and polished (at least once, one side). “Value” represents the declared customs value of stone.
WORKED GRANITE VALUE
Total: $92.4 million (+3.6%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ $39.7 million (-7.6%)
Backfill: China provides the excitement in October, jumping 36.7% from 2011 with $21.8 million. Other bright spots include Taiwan at $2.2 million (+23.2%) and Spain’s $1.4 million (+86.3%). India takes a 4.3% dip at $13.2 million, while Italy treads water at $9.8 million (+0.7%).
WORKED GRANITE VOLUME
Total: 105,054 metric tons (+1.8%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ 45,467 metric tons (-11.0%)
Backfill: Brazil posts its worst month this year since April, while second-place China remains consistent for 2012 at 25,439 metric tons and 25.8% ahead of October 2011. Italy also peps up at 7,684 metric tons (+25.1%), while India offers a hum-drum 18,186 metric tons (-0.9%).
WORKED MARBLE VALUE
Total: $21.1 million (+28.4%)
Sector leader: Italy @ $10.7 million (+38.1%)
Backfill: Second-place China sees a small loss from October 2011 (-1.9%) at $3.4 million, while Turkey maintains third with a boisterous $2.4 million (+56.2%). Spain recovers a bit from its September tumble with this October’s $1.5 million, but that’s -11.1% from the previous year.
WORKED MARBLE VOLUME
Total: 17,333 metric tons (+30.8%)
Sector leader: Italy @ 5,351 metric tons (+47.4%)
Backfill: China makes up for lost value with a gain of 16.6% in October at 4,689 metric tons. Turkey makes a big leap at 3.201 metric tons (+102.5%); Spain slides 26.6% from last year to 1,392 metric tons. India comes fifth in October marble tonnage, but far behind the leaders at 564 metric tons.
TRAVERTINE VALUE
Total: $21.6 million (+2.7%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ $14.2 million (+0.6%)
Backfill: Turkey’s step-and-repeat performance of gaining less than a percent keeps October’s market steady, along with second-place Mexico dropping only 1.6% from last year at $3.9 million. Italy pumps up the value at $1.5 million, a 191.1% leap from October ’11.
TRAVERTINE VOLUME
Total: 41,236 metric tons (-5.8%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ 33,022 metric tons (+7.7%)
Backfill: Turkey steps back from its 59K metric-ton level of September 2012, but it’s the year-to-year losses by others that drag down this October’s totals. Mexico slumps by 28.4% to 4,208 metric tons; worse losses come from Peru (938 metric tons, -80.9%) and China (812 metric tons, -40.9%). Italy gains 26.9%, but with a small total of 806 metric tons this October.
