StatWatch: Quartz Growth Curve Still Steep

 

The hot times continue for quartz, with Spain and Israel pushing the market. Don’t count out China, though.

Spain’s first place this March tickles the $7-million mark in customs valuation, but Israel takes bigger strides from last year to mark second place at $5.4 million. China falls off the pace of the first two months of 2013, although its $1.5 million is more than double of March 2012. On the other side of the slab, the Czech Republic’s exports to the United States drop to zero in value and volume for March.

U.S. Quartz Slab Imports – Value
(U.S. dollars)
Mar-13 Mar-12 Change
Spain $6,912,482 $5,535,330 24.9%
Israel $5,425,371 $3,378,027 60.6%
Canada $1,595,831 $1,359,066 17.4%
China $1,560,983 $759,080 105.6%
Italy $553,561 $492,041 12.5%
Portugal $416,446 $451,477 -7.8%
Vietnam $226,190 $201,520 12.2%
India $211,233 $271,257 -22.1%
Belgium $172,026 $426,705 -59.7%
Brazil $69,312 $13,677 406.8%
Korea $50,284 $42,526 18.2%
Turkey $45,792 $0 N/A
Germany $30,357 $0 N/A
Czech Republic $0 $61,923 N/A
Total $17,269,868 $12,992,629 32.9%
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

The top spot in volume remains with Spain in March, but Israel squeezes the margin to less than 100,000 ft² by doubling and then some (129.1%) its own shipments from 2012. China continues to establish itself as one of the U.S. market makers, and even Canada and Italy show gains from last March. India continues to move up, although monthly totals still average well short of 100,000 ft².

U.S. Quartz Slab Imports – Volume
(square feet)
Mar-13 Mar-12 Change
Spain 736,218 549,314 34.0%
Israel 630,711 275,330 129.1%
China 216,193 79,158 173.1%
Canada 136,712 111,546 22.6%
Italy 69,642 47,856 45.5%
India 53,109 26,608 99.6%
Portugal 47,458 52,323 -9.3%
Vietnam 19,989 23,315 -14.3%
Belgium 18,665 36,748 -49.2%
Turkey 6,448 0 N/A
Korea 6,006 5,425 10.7%
Germany 4,036 0 N/A
Brazil 3,261 850 283.5%
Czech Republic 0 5,963 N/A
Total 1,948,449 1,214,437 60.4%
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

StatWatch is a snapshot of U.S. dimensional-stone and hard-surfaces imports, offering a summary and exclusive Stone Update analysis of data from the U.S. International Trade Commission. Comparisons are made mainly to gauge market trends. Analysis is made on import figures of the latest month available.

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