StatWatch August 2019: Bit of a Lull?
By Emerson Schwartzkopf
Quartz slabs remained strong in July’s U.S. hard-surface import data, despite China all-but-dropping-out of the market.
Granite, meanwhile, remained strong, as Brazil moves far ahead of 2018’s pace in sending slabs to the United States.
More than 6.5 million ft² of quartz slabs from China rushed through U.S. ports-of-entry in May and June to sail through a regulatory loophole for implementing 300%-plus unfair-trade tariffs. July’s shipments from the country, meanwhile, might be enough to cover a couple of decent subdivisions in Phoenix.
Others continue to step in to fill the loss of Chinese quartz, including a big recovery in shipments from Vietnam and Italy.
All data is from the U.S. International Trade Commission, along with Stone Update analysis.(Comparisions with July 2018 data is shown in parentheses.)
QUARTZ SURFACES
Total: 13,553,903 ft² (-26.0%)
Sector Leader: India, 4,679,024 ft² (+330.7%)
Backfill: It’s hard to compare total shipments with August 2018, when pre-tariff shipments from China peaked at 12.9 million ft². Non-Chinese imports, however, grew from slightly more than 5.3 million ft² last year to 13.4 million ft² this August, spearheaded mainly by India, Turkey and a resurgent Vietnam.
As far as roving factories and container-swapping transshipping of Chinese quartz, it’s truly nothing if not low key. Pacific Rim neighbors Taiwan and Malaysia make up less than 5% of the previous flow from China, and two other likely locations — Singapore and the Philippines — show no U.S. shipments in August.
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WORKED GRANITE
Total: 121,562 metric tons (-11.3%)
Sector Leader: Brazil, 57,295 metric tons (+27.0%)
Backfill: Worked (sawn, one-side polished) granite falls behind 2018’s pace in August, although it’s through no fault of sector leader Brazil. For the second month in a row, the other members of granite’s Big Three — India and China — post double-digit declines from August 2018, along with every other company shipping more than 1,000 metric tons to the United States.
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WORKED MARBLE
Total: 47,440 metric tons (+2.8%)
Sector Leader: Turkey, 21,037 metric tons (+27.8%)
Backfill: Turkey is up, but most major exporters to the United States (save Brazil) are down. China takes a 30%-plus drop from the previous August … but it did the same thing, by the same margin, from August 2017-August 2018.
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TRAVERTINE
Total: 27.992 metric tons (+17.9%)
Sector Leader: Turkey, 13,713 metric tons (-21.3%)
Backfill: No mirage: Travertine imports went up from the previous year, which hasn’t happened in a long time. It looks like someone really wanted a huge amount of Chinese travertine..
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OTHER CALCAREOUS
Total: 11,303 metric tons (-12.8%)
Sector Leader: Canada, 2,158 metric tons (-11.6%)
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OTHER STONE
Total: 35,414 metric tons (-27.9%)
Sector Leader: India, 14,100 metric tons (-1.0%)
| (metric tons) | |||
| 19-Aug | 18-Aug | Change | |
| TOTAL | 35,414 | 49,101 | -27.9% |
| Top Countries | |||
| India | 14,100 | 14,242 | -1.0% |
| Brazil | 11,326 | 22,865 | -50.5% |
| China | 5,339 | 4,886 | 9.3% |
| Italy | 1,368 | 2,346 | -41.7% |
| Canada | 1,093 | 1,841 | -40.6% |
| Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis | |||
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