U.S. Quartz Imports: Switch Again

January 9, 2013

The top spot changed again for U.S. imports of quartz slabs in October 2012, as Spain moves back into the lead for shipment volume as well as value.

Spain snaps out of a four-month decline on value, posting $7.2 million for last October – up more than $2 million from the previous month, and 35% better than October 2011. Israel remains strong at $5 million (+27.7% from October ’11), but the big mover is China – going from $1.3 million last September to $2.7 million in October, and jumping $2.7 million from October 2011.

U.S. Quartz Slab Imports – Value
(U.S. dollars)

	Oct-12	Oct-11	Change
Spain	$7,222,063	$5,350,889	35.0%
Israel	$5,015,671	$3,928,515	27.7%
China	$2,732,465	$1,239,144	120.5%
Canada	$1,526,772	$1,121,428	36.1%
Italy	$539,276	$1,216,049	-55.7%
Portugal	$376,948	$417,134	-9.6%
India	$346,467	$180,662	91.8%
Vietnam	$331,370	$154,335	114.7%
Belgium	$279,414	$65,453	326.9%
Korea	$104,377	$19,302	440.8%
Taiwan	$59,465	$16,441	261.7%
Czech Republic	$33,633	$32,119	4.7%
Brazil	$24,230	$12,728	90.4%
Turkey	$19,487	$0	N/A
Reunion	$0	$48,909	N/A
Hong Kong	$0	$14,061	N/A
Indonesia	$0	$2,310	N/A

Total	$18,611,638	$13,819,479	34.7%

Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update* analysis*

The four-month Spanish slide also stops in volume, with the 732,064 ft² coming into U.S. ports-of-entry last October showing the best totals since May, and 34.4% ahead of October 2011. It’s also dynamic for Israel, with the 577,246 ft² in October shipments besting the previous year by 76.3%. China makes the biggest headway, increasing year-to-year quartz-slab imports by 186.7% with 348,546 ft² last October.

U.S. Quartz Slab Imports – Volume
(square feet)

	Oct-12	Oct-11	Change
Spain	732,064	544,524	34.4%
Israel	577,246	327,438	76.3%
China	348,546	121,578	186.7%
Canada	116,691	115,959	0.6%
Italy	50,719	109,114	-53.5%
India	45,187	18,783	140.6%
Portugal	41,915	26,447	58.5%
Vietnam	38,998	16,706	133.4%
Belgium	29,838	5,909	404.9%
Korea	16,264	2,573	532.2%
Czech Republic	4,176	4,392	-4.9%
Taiwan	3,853	1,690	128.0%
Brazil	2,648	635	316.9%
Turkey	2,390	0	N/A
Hong Kong	0	7,610	N/A
Reunion	0	3,929	N/A
Indonesia	0	97	N/A

Total	2,010,535	1,307,383	53.8%

Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update* analysis*

StatWatch is a snapshot of U.S. dimensional-stone and hard-surfaces imports, offering a summary and exclusive Stone Update analysis of data from the U.S. International Trade Commission. Comparisons are made mainly to gauge market trends. Analysis is made on import figures of the latest month available.

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