First Quarter 2012 U.S. Stone Imports

 

U.S. Imports: Other Calcareous Volume – First Quarter
(metric tons)
2012 2011 Change
Turkey 23,393 1,643 1323.8%
Italy 4,580 2,083 119.9%
China 3,095 4,505 -31.3%
Portugal 2,126 2,391 -11.1%
Dominican Republic 1,546 977 58.2%
Spain 1,272 2,351 -45.9%
Mexico 1,201 19,719 -93.9%
Canada 1,078 2,449 -56.0%
France 1,073 1,137 -5.6%
All Others 4,806 3,741 28.5%
Total 44,170 40,996 7.7%
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission

Look, it’s a wacky market when Mexico, the dynamic leader in last year’s first quarter, cuts its shipments by more than 90% in 2012 … and the category still shows a gain. Turkey offers the out-of-proportion share this year, although Italy lowers its value-per-ton to increase exports to the United States. China, meanwhile, throttles back its shipments by almost one-third.

SLATE

Slate plays the bogeyman, as it drops a small shadow on an otherwise sunny report on U.S. stone imports.

U.S. Imports: Slate – First Quarter
(U.S. dollars)
2012 2011 Change
China 5257812 4711105 11.6%
India 3813204 5141944 -25.8%
Brazil 1142372 1112821 2.7%
Italy 320364 152483 110.1%
Spain 313010 181577 72.4%
Canada 258713 220947 17.1%
United Kingdom 219152 768831 -71.5%
All Others 397053 409590 -3.1%
Total 11721680 12699298 -7.7%
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission

Slate involves two major players; while China manages a double-digit gain, the market leader last year – India – ends up losing market value more than twice-as-fast. Italy doubles its exports from 1Q 2011, but the effort is less than a tenth of India’s quarterly total.

The big loser continues to be the United Kingdom, which offered good growth in slate shipments through last year. For 1Q 2012, it exports less and less each month, with a 71.5% drop from the same time last year.
 
OTHER STONE

The omnibus category of imported stone makes the smallest of gains … but it’s a gain.

U.S. Imports: Other Stone Value – First Quarter
(U.S. dollars)
2012 2011 Change
India $16,297,458 $12,195,655 33.6%
Brazil $12,042,024 $8,514,701 41.4%
China $5,091,645 $4,935,757 3.2%
Canada $4,631,347 $2,943,014 57.4%
Italy $3,366,557 $2,820,783 19.3%
Mexico $969,263 $1,568,334 -38.2%
All Others $2,755,019 $5,498,679 -49.9%
Total $45,153,313 $38,476,923 17.4%
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission

Given the large gains by leaders India and China, other stone values should grow even more than the 17.4% total from last year’s first quarter. The problem lies with the less-than-$1-million exporters; the countries with shipments below seven figures are off more than 40% from 2011 so far.

U.S. Imports: Other Stone Volume – First Quarter
(metric tons)
2012 2011 Change
India 18,464 14,500 27.3%
Brazil 11,986 11,138 7.6%
China 7,227 7,407 -2.4%
Canada 3,732 2,082 79.3%
Italy 2,023 1,665 21.5%
Mexico 1,092 1,746 -37.5%
All Others 3,135 8,987 -65.1%
Total 47,659 47,525 0.3%
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission

Other stone took such a dive in the past few years that any gain – even three-tenths of a percent – is a major plus. India offers strong performance, with a healthy gain by Brazil. China – once again – shows some soft numbers, but it’s the decline of smaller exporters en masse that contribute to the overall tiny growth rate.

Data for this article, and for accompanying charts, is derived from information reported by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. International Trade Commission. All analysis is made using comparable data. “Cut /slab” data excludes crude/roughly trimmed stone comprised of marble/travertine, granite or other categories where volume measurement is in cubic meters instead of metric tons.

 

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