StatWatch: Quartz Stays Hot In June

September 4, 2012

Quartz continues to outpace 2011 import levels, although volume grows faster than value.

In value, Spain continues to far outstrip other countries, beating June 2011 levels by 189.8%. Israel remains a strong second , while China continues some healthy growth. Countries showing major declines – Canada and Italy – likely reflect changes in the supply chain rather than consumer demand, as major companies turn to U.S.-based manufacturing.

U.S. Quartz Slab Imports – Value
(U.S. dollars)

	Jun-12	Jun-11	Change
Spain	$7,886,166	$2,721,630	189.8%
Israel	$4,574,137	$2,394,921	91.0%
China	$1,484,160	$1,060,585	39.9%
Canada	$906,637	$1,850,378	-51.0%
Italy	$832,715	$2,213,667	-62.4%
Luxembourg	$339,024	$0	N/A
India	$238,880	$337,634	-29.2%
Vietnam	$186,118	$204,391	-8.9%
Belgium	$170,172	$390,775	-56.5%
Portugal	$158,590	$40,912	287.6%
Korea	$51,553	$59,753	-13.7%
Czech Republic	$31,294	$31,719	-1.3%
All Others	$26,696	$36,714	-27.3%

Total	$16,886,142	$11,343,079	48.9%

Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

The import trend holds true in actual shipments, although the larger increase in volume (89.5%) over value (48.9%) indicates some softening returns as demands increase. Spain remains a clear #1 in the market with huge growth in shipments from June 2011, with Israel also making major gains, and China posts good increases. The rest of the market remains dull, save for Vietnam and Portugal.

U.S. Quartz Slab Imports – Volume
(square feet)

	Jun-12	Jun-11	Change
Spain	848,368	236,278	259.1%
Israel	530,230	217,592	143.7%
China	204,815	129,188	58.5%
Canada	75,541	127,348	-40.7%
Italy	46,618	170,263	-72.6%
Luxembourg	42,324	0	N/A
India	28,567	29,558	-3.4%
Vietnam	26,339	20,344	29.5%
Belgium	18,654	24,348	-23.4%
Portugal	18,385	4,618	298.1%
Korea	6,178	7,685	-19.6%
Czech Republic	4,080	4,370	-6.7%
All Others	1,539	5,371	-71.3%

Total	1,851,638	976,964	89.5%

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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