Mid-Year 2011 U.S. Stone Imports

By the end of June, U.S. stone imports of dimensional (non-roofing) slate totaled $25.9 million in customs values, representing a 0.2-percent drop from mid-2011. India exported the most to the United States – $10.36 million – but that’s also a 8.6-percent drop from last June. China sent just a bit less at $10.32 million, upping its ante by 4.2 percent from last year.

OTHER STONE

Nothing looks good in the catchall category for dimensional stone in 2011, which hasn’t caught much of the recovery from the recession. Customs values through mid-2011 is $83 million, down 24.2 percent from last June; volume decreased by 26.7 percent to 100,970 tons.

Of the top four exporters to the United States, China provided the one bit of positive news; its shipments of 15,484 metric tons represented a 1.1-percent increase from last June.

Brazil, last year’s leader in the omnibus stone sector, took the biggest fall, with a 50.6-percent decline to 25,079 metric tons. India took over the top spot with 31,495 metric tons, slipping 19.5 percent from last June; Canada’s 7,430 metric tons (down 28.9 percent) placed the country fourth.

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. “Worked” 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. Marble/travertine crude/roughly trimmed stone data is not included in value summaries, since the two stones are not delineated in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (2002) (Revision 2).