StatWatch: Summer’s Breeze

 

More than fireworks went boom in July, as U.S. dimensional-surface imports all took to the sky – albeit at different elevations.

Even granite, with some sluggish performance this spring, managed to pick up the pace with an overall positive 7.4% year-to-year growth in July, although two of the sector’s major shippers slipped from 2014 totals.

Marble and quartz slabs, meanwhile, continued their double-digit leaps from 2014 totals. Quartz set yet another monthly import record, with only one country registering only nominal shipping growth. (And, it’s not the one hosting a producer getting knocked on Wall Street.)

As for each sector:

GRANITE

Imports of “worked” (at least partially finished) granite shipments) to the United States climbed past the 200,000 metric-ton (MT) mark in July, finishing at 201,429 MT. That’s up 7.4% from the same time last year.

The growth came without help from the two largest exporters to the U.S. market, as Brazil and China dropped off 13.2% and 31.2%, respectively. Canada picked up most of the slack with a massive 25,000 MT increase from July 2014 that likely won’t be seen again in August.

WORKED GRANITE: U.S. IMPORTS (metric tons)                 Jul-15 Jul-14 Change TOTAL 201,429 187,514 7.4%         Top Importers       Brazil 82,480 95,057 -13.2% China 34,456 50,102 -31.2% India 31,373 20,253 54.9% Canada 27,702 2,542 989.8% Italy 16,677 12,084 38.0% Spain 5,938 4,485 32.4% Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

 

MARBLE

Marblemania continued in the United States in July, with the 53,627 MT in worked marble blowing past last year’s totals by 72.2%.

Turkey throttled back slightly from June’s 21+K MT totals, but still far outstripped traditional leader Italy. Spain showed good progress by doubling up from July 2015 shipments.

WORKED MARBLE: U.S. IMPORTS   (metric tons)                 Jul-15 Jul-14 Change TOTAL 53,627 31,150 72.2%         Top Importers       Turkey 20,819 6,438 223.4% Italy 11,995 9,971 20.3% China 9,110 7,029 29.6% India 4,167 3,057 36.3% Spain 2,869 1,431 100.5% Brazil 2,323 950 144.5% Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

 

QUARTZ SLABS

(Editor’s note: Wordwide import totals corrected on Sept. 23, 2015.)

It’s going to be news when U.S. quartz-slab imports don’t set a new monthly record; this July, however, it’s just another ho-hum high mark of 6,380,388ft² and a 58% gain from 2014.

And, again, the big push comes from China, with 169.1% year-to-year growth and close to a 740,000 ft² margin from the next-biggest importer, Spain – which also offers a slight surprise by growing only 1.5% in volume from July 2014.

Caesarstone took plenty of whacks on its public-share prices last month as Wall Streeters saw bad times ahead, but the initial imports from Israel for this year’s third quarter looked good with a 26% gain from 2014.

QUARTZ SLAB: U.S. IMPORTS   (square feet)                 Jul-15 Jul-14 Change TOTAL 6,380,388 4,027,980 58.0%         Top Importers       China 2,114,579 785,926 169.1% Spain 1,374,916 1,354,831 1.5% Israel 1,023,970 812,405 26.0% Canada 549,755 398,770 37.9% Vietnam 463,698 373,680 24.1% Italy 183,804 71,483 157.1% India 176,905 44,433 298.1% Korea 138,187 80,751 71.1% Portugal 107,348 47,576 125.6% Czech Republic 99,792 4,306 2217.8% Turkey 60,084 0 N/A Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

 

TRAVERTINE

Whatever level of travertine Turkey loads on U.S.-bound ships, the overall market here usually moves accordingly. That holds for this July, as total imports of the stone grew by 38.5% from last year … and Turkey’s tonnage grew 34.2%.

Since 83% of all U.S. travertine imports come from Turkey, the country’s bound to dominate the figures. Italy came in with a big one-time boost in July, although Italian travertine looks to be getting stronger in shipments throughout 2015.

TRAVERTINE: U.S. IMPORTS   (metric tons)                 Jul-15 Jul-14 Change TOTAL 90,178 65,096 38.5%         Top Importers       Turkey 74,859 55,776 34.2% Italy 6,299 972 548.0% Mexico 5,750 5,667 1.5% China 1,199 1,349 -11.1% Philippines 900 0 N/A Peru 829 944 -12.2% Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

 

OTHER CALCAREOUS

The most-volatile sector in U.S. surface imports calmed down this summer, with its 16,952 MT in July showing a relaxing 3.5% growth from 2014. China seems to be taking charge with other calcareous, which often includes non-traditional shippers such as Lebanon and New Zealand sending huge amounts in a few months and then fading away.

The stone is still moving off the docks in one contentious area: Syria is a small U.S. player at 234 MT in July, but that’s a year-to-year hike of 162.9%.

OTHER CALCAREOUS: U.S. IMPORTS   (metric tons)                 Jul-15 Jul-14 Change TOTAL 16,952 16,371 3.5%         Top Importers       China 4,660 2,833 64.5% Canada 3,460 1,031 235.6% Turkey 2,197 1,909 15.1% Portugal 1,574 1,261 24.8% Italy 1,084 1,817 -40.3% Spain 854 492 73.6% Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

 

OTHER STONE

OTHER STONE: U.S. IMPORTS   (metric tons)                 Jul-15 Jul-14 Change TOTAL 29385 26,066 12.7%         Top Importers       Brazil 9,320 95,057 -1.1% India 9,189 50,102 27.2% China 4,507 20,253 6.3% Canada 1,891 2,542 12.4% Italy 1,502 12,084 62.4%         Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

 

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