StatWatch: U.S. Stone Imports, April 2012

The growth curve for U.S. granite imports made a hefty change for the better in April, but don’t get used to this angle.

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

All figures give are for April 2012 (change from April 2011 amounts in parentheses). “Worked” stone is material that’s shorn from boulders and blocks, and then cut in standard dimensional measures (such as slabs and tiles) and polished (at least once, one side). “Value” represents the declared customs value of stone.
 
WORKED GRANITE VALUE
Total: $93.9 million (+31.0%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ $38.3 million (+26.4%)

Backfill: All of the Big Four in granite pull up the socks from April 2011, including recent foot-dragger China ($20.5 million, up 25.4%) and Italy ($10.7 million, up 16.8%). The big mover, though is India, with its $17.5 million reflecting a 73% increase. So what’s the problem?

WORKED GRANITE VOLUME
Total: 144,088 metric tons (+57.6%)
Sector leader: India @ 59,394 metric tons (+361.0%)

Backfill: When one country’s shipments grow exponentially in one month, it’s not a trend. India’s gain is welcome, but it’s likely a monthly wonder. Brazil (45,101 metric tons, up 19.2%) and Italy (7,102 metric tons, up 4.0%) offer reasonable growth; China’s 25,204 metric tons is 5.4% behind April 2011, but it’s still the best month this year for Sino-U.S. granite traffic. And, if India’s exports were scaled back to a standard monthly rate this year, April’s total granite-import gain would still be 10%+ .

WORKED MARBLE VALUE
Total: $18.7 million (+27.2%)
Sector leader: Italy @ $9.5 million (+40.5%)

Backfill: Italy makes the pace here – it provides half of the total value of marble imports in April – but a host of countries also gain from 2011, including Spain ($2.2 million, up 28.2%) and Greece ($589K, up 102.2%). However, two of the larger trade partners fell behind last year: China ($2.9 million, down 2.1%) and Turkey ($1.4 million, down 8.5%).

WORKED MARBLE VOLUME
Total: 16,442 metric tons (+38.7%)
Sector leader: Italy @ 5,301 metric tons (+52.9%)

Backfill: It’s a strong rebound; China breaks out of a slump with 4,440 metric tons, a 24% increase from April 2011. Spain jumps by a third to reach 2,315 metric tons, and Turkey sends 1,882 metric tons, a 23.6% year-to-year increase. The rare sour note comes from Israel with a 33.0% decline, moving a comparatively small 124 metric tons.

TRAVERTINE VALUE
Total: $19.9 million (-8.4%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ $13.3 million (-6.6%)

Backfill: Italy makes another move up, with $1.1 million in value besting April 2011 by 27.1%. That’s the extent of the good news; second-place Mexico loses 10.4% to $3.9 million, and Peru shrinks 31.3% to $643K. China’s $490K notes a 13.6% decline.

TRAVERTINE VOLUME
Total: 34,258 metric tons (-24.5%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ 27,331 metric tons (-24.1%)

Backfill: As Turkey falls off, so falls the sector; again, Italy provides the sole bright spot with a 44.5% increase from April 2011, but 734 metric tons is a small slice of overall shipments. China started 2012 big with 1,688 metric tons in January and 2,138 metric tons in February; in April, the total’s 445 metric tons.

OTHER CALCAREOUS VALUE
Total: $7.6 million (-9.7%)
Sector leader: China @ $1.4 million (+73.7%)

Backfill: The top two positions change, due mainly to China’s sharp increase and Italy’s 41.4 drop from April 2011 levels to $960K. Spain ($856K, +7.3%) and France ($670K, +21.3%) move up from last year; so does Canada, but with an unusual 276.5% increase to $810K. Portugal, meanwhile, leads the losses, with a 40.1% dive to $636K ….

OTHER CALCAREOUS VOLUME
Total: 28,253 metric tons (+134.4%)
Sector leader: Portugal @ 20,634 metric tons (+1,833.8%)

Backfill: … which makes its lead (and huge share of tonnage) absolutely baffling in a market sector that makes little sense for regular supply and demand. In March 2012, Turkey blew the container doors off at 21,750 metric tons; a month later, the country ships only 556 metric tons.

SLATE VALUE
Total: $3.9 million (+8.1%)
Sector leader: China @ $1.8 million (+48.9%)

Backfill: First and second places swap again, with India’s $1.2 million representing a 17.6% drop from the previous April. Spain continues to grow at $257K (up 217.2%) while the United Kingdom continues to slump; its $96K is 47.4% below last year’s levels.

OTHER STONE VALUE
Total: $17.4 million (+52.4%)
Sector leader: India @ $6.0 million (+67.7%)

Backfill: No matter that this is the remainder of the market; these non-mainstream stones offer an well-rounded boom. Second-place Brazil’s $4.2 million is 63.5% ahead of April 2011; China’s $2.1 million is up 41.9%, and Canada’s $1.9 million is a 73.9% increase. The 27.7% growth by Italy at $991K isn’t bad, either.

OTHER STONE VOLUME
Total: 18,419 metric tons (+29.3%)
Sector leader: India @ 6,728 metric tons (+49.9%)

Backfill: Smiles all around for the market leaders here with solid increases from last April, including Brazil (4,215 metric tons, up 21.5%), China (2,892 metric tons, up 39.8%) and Canada (1,638 metric tons, also up 39.8%).

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