Mid-Year 2011 U.S. Stone Imports

TRAVERTINE

It’s another case of the up-down syndrome, as mid-2011 customs values of $129.8 million for U.S. travertine imports offer a 5.5-percent gain from the same time last year – but the 226,087 in metric tons received is 5.4-percent behind mid-2010.

Chalk most of the change up to Turkey, which now ships more than three-quarters of the travertine showing up at U.S. ports-of-entry. Turkish exporters got more for their stone — $87.9 million in first-half 2011, up 5.5 percent – but shipped 5 percent less with 177,226 metric tons during the same period. The VPT for 2011 Turkish travertine is $496.18, up 14.9 percent from mid-2010’s $431.92.

Mexico, for its part, held firm; the first-half value of Mexican travertine is $24.5 (up 1.6 percent) and the 29,321 metric tons entering the United States is just off (-0.4 percent) mid-2010 totals.

However, it’s worth noting that Turkey had an out-of-proportion increase in travertine shipments in June 2010, which could skew comparisons with this year by a few percentage points. For January-May this year, Turkey trended up on a month-by-month comparison to 2010.

OTHER CALCAREOUS

Last year, Lebanon’s incredible output skewed U.S. other calcareous data. This year, it’s Mexico. Let’s be honest: This category is a mess, and year-to-year comparisons are close to meaningless.

The massive amounts of Lebanese stone showing up at U.S. docks, with values at less than a quarter of other countries’ exports, made hash of any reasonable study. Then, last May, the flow of other calcareous from Lebanon to the United States stopped. Cold. As in straight to zero.

So, it’s not surprising that the six-month volume for other calcareous imports this year comes in at 76,990 metric tons, down 73.7 percent from the same time in 2011. The stone’s custom value, which was almost laughable with Lebanese exports, declined by only 3.2 percent to $44.7 million.

Unfortunately, there’s a new problem country: Mexico. No, the fault doesn’t lie with the stone or its exporters; it’s the flow of the stone that makes a ton of bricks seem like a dribble from a sippy cup.

Through this June, Mexico’s sent 33,976 metric tons of other calcareous across the border, which is 44.1% of total imports of the stone.  It’s an increase from last year of 1,201.8 percent – yes, that number’s correct – with a VPT of $119.99. (The next-closest other calcareous VPN is China’s $771.81.)

Clearly, somebody’s shipping a huge amount of Mexican limestone. Where it’s going is, at this point, a complete mystery.

SLATE

Because of a different tariff assessment, slate imports aren’t measured in weight. The stone gets a customs value, however; in mid-2011, there isn’t much change from the previous year.