Hard-Surface Imports: Slight Uptick in June

By Emerson Schwartzkopf

One dip or two? (And we’re not talking about ice cream.)

The second month of COVID-19-affected hard-surface imports showed results all over the map, as shipments/values either took a big plunge or came back with a sharp rebound. It’ll take a few months to see if the bounce-backs are a sustaining trend or yet another false positive in the pandemic.

The Number – the total customs value of U.S. hard-surface imports – came to $247,620,578 in June, according to U.S. International Trade Commission data and Hard-Surface Report analysis. That’s an increase of 6.1% from May. The biggest boost came from porcelain, which recovered from a disastrous May to post $71.4 million in June, for a month-to-month jump of 39.7%.

Slight increases in several sectors – including, amazingly, travertine – were offset by May-June declines from big categories such as worked granite, other stone and quartz slabs.

However, there’s still a massive gap between 2020 and 2019 shipments. This June’s overall customs value is 36.3% behind the same time last year. Among the sectors showing worse-than-average declines are worked granite (-38.4%), other stone (-43.6%) and quartz slab (-46.9%).

(The awful drop in quartz surfaces, though, is exaggerated, since June 2019 was one of the loophole months allowing imports from China without 300% unfair-trade tariffs.

Want to know more? Check the latest edition of Hard-Surface Report, available online now and, as always, at no charge.

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