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

 

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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