U.S. Stone Imports, January 2012

Marble and travertine seems to be on the high road as the year begins. Granite looks good; even the small decline in shipments is due to an anomaly from last January.

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 January 2012 (change from January 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: $80.8 million (9.6%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ $34.4 million (5.7%)

Backfill: More sun than shadow to begin 2012; China’s $20.9 million is a 14.8% step up from January ‘11, while India makes a 52.6% leap to $13.2 million. Italy goes in the opposite direction, falling 19.1% to $7.3 million. Biggest gainer among the rest: Saudi Arabia, marking a 37.2% increase to $1.04 million.

WORKED GRANITE VOLUME
Total: 121,917 metric tons (-3.2%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ 73,928 metric tons (76.5%)

Backfill: China’s strength of shipments in Dec. ’11 dissipates a month later, with its 23,171 metric tons showing a 44.5% fall from the previous January. Only a nominal sector loss occurs due to Brazil pairing with India’s 14,868 metric tons (up 34.0%). Italy proves to be of little help at 4,446 metric tons, down 24.1%. Factoring out Canada’s one-month-wonder of 20,000+ metric-ton shipments in January ‘11, there’d actually be a 20% gain for shipments this year.

WORKED MARBLE VALUE
Total: $17.9 million (23.9%)
Sector leader: Italy @ $8.4 million (36.4%)

Backfill: The major exporters to the United States – with one exception – experience growth from 2011; Spain’s $1.8 million marks a 37.4% gain, and Turkey jumps up a respectable 5.8% to $1.5 million. Only China sounds the sour note, dropping 8.3% from January ’11 to $3.4 million.

WORKED MARBLE VOLUME
Total: 15,696 metric tons (16.6%)
Sector leader: Italy @ 4,942 metric tons (40.6%)

Backfill: Turkey also offer double-digit shipping growth, with its 1,843 metric tons representing a 20.8% jump from Jan ’11. Even the losses among the leaders are minor with China (4,666 metric tons, down 4.3%) and Spain (1,764 metric tons, down 2.9%).

TRAVERTINE VALUE
Total: $22.4 million (13.9%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ $16.8 million (18.2%)

Backfill: Travertine continues its steady improvement, with Mexico coming in at $3.0 million (up 12%) and Italy moving into the seven-figure range at $1.1 million (up 70.3). Peru also goes positive at $670K (up 9.5%); however, China goes the other way at $674K (down 43.6%).

TRAVERTINE VOLUME
Total: 47,273 metric tons (40.0%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ 38,880 metric tons (39.7%)

Backfill: It’s the best January since the mid-2000s for shipments; Mexico adds to the rise from January ’11 with 4,897 metric tons (up 51.4%), with good performances from Italy (1,006 metric tons, up 115.0%) and Peru (649 metric tons, up 15.7%). Even with its decline in travertine values this January, China pumps up the volume by 33.9% to 1,668 metric tons.

OTHER CALCAREOUS VALUE
Total: $6.9 million (-7.7%)
Sector leader: China @ $1.1 million (19.0%)

Backfill: The overall slip comes mainly from Portugal; the $527K sent stateside this January is less than half of the previous year.  Italy barely misses $1.1 million in shipments, but that’s a slip of 10.3% from last January. France looks good at $860K, but that’s a bare 0.5% above January ’11 totals.

OTHER CALCAREOUS VOLUME
Total: 8.670 metric tons (2.6%)
Sector leader: Italy @ 1,860 metric tons (73.2%)

Backfill: The game of musical slabs-and-tiles goes to Italy this month; China, the top exporter last January, takes a tumble of 59.8% to 1,045 metric tons. Helping to pull up the slack from 2011 are two countries rarely seen among the big traders; the Dominican Republic sends 802 metric tons (up 203.8%) and Tunisia accounts for 652 metric tons … a whopping increase from the eight (yes, 8) metric tons shipped in January ’11.

SLATE VALUE
Total: $4.6 million (-1.5%)
Sector leader: China @ $2.3 million (18.0%)

Backfill: The nominal overall movement comes as India’s $1.3 million shows a 21.1% slide from January ’11, and third-place Brazil dips 10.4% to $403,546. The exporter to watch is the United Kingdom; the $85K this January represents the first time since November 2009 that the country failed to reach $100K for two consecutive months.

Looking for more monthly reports on U.S. stone imports? Check the StatWatch index here.

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