July 2020 U.S. Hard-Surface Imports: Moving Up

By Emerson Schwartzkopf

Hard-surface shipments to the United States boomed in July, with all natural-stone and man-made surfaces scoring double-digit increases from June, according to data from the U.S. International Trade Commission and Hard-Surface Report analysis.

Whether the upswing is a continuing trend or a fleeting high point in the time of COVID-19, however, is unknown.

July’s hard-surfaces import-value total of $329.5 million topped June by 33.1% — just barely short of increasing by a third. It’s the second month in a row of increases, albeit a gigantic leap compared with June’s improvement of 6.1% from the sorry $233.3 million in May.

The amount of materials crossing U.S. ports-of-entry in July also towered over June’s shipments. Quartz slab saw a month-to-month increase of 44% with July’s 10.1 million ft². Big gains also emerged in natural stone from June to July, including granite (+49.5%) and marble (+39.6%).

July’s numbers are encouraging, but it’s too early to call it a trend or a steady path out of the COVID-19 business downturn.  The $329.5 million in import value for the month is 18.5% behind July 2019’s total, and the $1.9 billion in total 2020 hard-surface imports through July 2020 lags behind the same time last year by 15.9%.

You can get all the information on U.S. hard-surface imports from the latest edition of Hard-Surface Report. Click here.

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