Quartz Shipments Set New U.S. Record (Again)

September 26, 2013

U.S. quartz slab imports took a quick rest in early summer before moving back to boom-time growth curves in July, setting new records in customs values and volume.

The $25.3 million in quartz-slab import values broke the $22.2 million mark set in May, although the leader – Spain, at $9.2 million – didn’t come close to setting a new single-country record. Israel keeps a strong second at $5.9 million, but the big dealer is Canada with $3.9 million in slabs moving across the border. Other members of the million-dollar club in July are China, pushing its values up 88.9% from July 2012 to $2.6 million, and Italy, marking a 238.8% year-to-year growth with its $1.3 million.

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

	Jul-13	Jul-13	Change
Spain	$9,290,283	$7,574,994	22.6%
Israel	$5,913,944	$3,513,952	68.3%
Canada	$3,986,829	$1,493,298	167.0%
China	$2,631,610	$1,392,927	88.9%
Italy	$1,326,896	$391,606	238.8%
India	$384,740	$603,087	-36.2%
Vietnam	$333,668	$165,449	101.7%
Belgium	$327,905	$244,858	33.9%
Brazil	$269,961	$61,952	335.8%
Korea	$241,117	$236,996	1.7%
Hong Kong	$202,249	$0	N/A
Turkey	$180,459	$0	N/A
Portugal	$166,588	$413,686	-59.7%
Czech Republic	$89,196	$61,648	44.7%
Taiwan	$22,913	$11,874	93.0%
Mexico	$6,022	$0	N/A
Germany	$0	$39,379	N/A

Total	$25,374,380	$16,205,706	56.6%
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

The 2.7 million ft² of quartz slab entering U.S. ports-of-entry In June easily surpasses May’s high of 2.4 million ft². The new marks again represent a team effort, with the biggest growth from July 2012 coming from Canada (381,451 ft², up 202.1%), China (316,373 ft², up 60.1%) and Italy (146,960 ft², up 474.1%) .

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

	Jul-13	Jul-12	Change
Spain	974,951	772,848	26.2%
Israel	656,393	419,728	56.4%
Canada	381,451	126,250	202.1%
China	316,373	197,636	60.1%
Italy	146,960	25,597	474.1%
India	80,751	71,709	12.6%
Belgium	42,722	23,089	85.0%
Vietnam	36,167	18,385	96.7%
Korea	29,278	30,979	-5.5%
Hong Kong	21,582	0	N/A
Portugal	20,408	78,426	-74.0%
Brazil	12,863	4,801	167.9%
Czech Republic	11,926	8,805	35.5%
Turkey	10,538	0	N/A
Taiwan	3,918	667	487.1%
Mexico	431	0	N/A
Germany	0	4,478	N/A

Total	2,746,710	1,783,395	54.0%
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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