U.S. Stone Imports, July 2012
OTHER CALCAREOUS VALUE
Total: $11.0 million (+35.9%)
Sector leader: China @ $2.1 million (+67.8%)
Backfill: The joker in this sector remains Canada, as it scores second-place at $1.6 million – a 524.8% gain from last July. Third-place France is no slouch, rising 66.6% to $1.3 million. Portugal rounds out the million-dollar-club her at slightly more than $1.0 million, but that represents a 28.8% drop from a year ago. And inching into the top 15 at $133,804 is that bane of predictable market trends for other calcareous: Lebanon.
OTHER CALCAREOUS VOLUME
Total: 16,518 metric tons (+62.5%)
Sector leader: France @ 5,219 metric tons (+937.6%)
Backfill: Just when things look settled in this category, there’s a sudden ramp-up from nowhere; France only accounts for 546 metric tons this June before zooming past 5,000 metric tons in July. Canada keeps moving up (2,365 metric tons, +420.9%), challenging a strong China (2.405 metric tons, +71.5%). There’s slippage with usual stalwarts Portugal (1,068 metric tons, -13.9%) and Spain (769 metric tons, -12.5%). And Lebanon? Only 20 metric tons for the month.
SLATE VALUE
Total: $5.5 million (-4.1%)
Sector leader: China @ $3.1 million (+15.1%)
Backfill: India ($1.6 million, -15.1% cancels out much of China’s gain, and recent gainer Italy drops 51.9% to $42,206. The United Kingdom’s $65,391 still lags behind July 2011 by 45.7%, but it’s a good move up from this June’s $24,067.
OTHER STONE VALUE
Total: $23.8 million (+35.9%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ $7.8 million (+76.7%)
Backfill: Brazil’s growth in this sector is followed by second-place India ($6.8 million, +28.1%) and Italy ($2.2 million, +99.9%), clearly offsetting slumps by China ($2.2 million, -3.9%) and Canada ($2.1 million, -6.1%). Turkey also reboots its other-stone exports this year, going from less than $14,000 in March to $389,027 in July.
OTHER STONE VOLUME
Total: 25,481 metric tons (+27.5%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ 8,158 metric tons (+63.7%)
Backfill: India slips to second place in this potpourri category, even after healthy growth of 31.7% from last July to 7,868 metric tons. Turkey also makes a dramatic move in monthly totals from 14 metric tons in July 2011 to 1,417 metric tons a year later (and good growth numbers from April-June). On the down side are China (3,088 metric tons, -10.5%) and Canada (1,915 metric tons, down 28.9%).
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