U.S. Stone Imports, June 2012

Granite turns around to lead most stone imports into positive territory in beating last June’s tallies. The good news reaches every category, save travertine.

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 June 2012 (change from June 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: $105.1 million (+2.9%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ $48.6 million (+2.5%)

Backfill: Growth rate of less than 3% may be dull, but June’s value total is the best in almost four years ($115.6 million, July 2008). China shows the best advance among the Big Four at $24.6 million (up 16.9%); Italy takes the biggest tumble ($9.9 million, down 23.3%). India barely moves the needle at $13.5 million (down 2.5%) .

WORKED GRANITE VOLUME
Total: 120,858 metric tons (+3.6%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ 58,500 metric tons (+4.4%)

Backfill: Tonnage goes to the upside with growth this June that’s less-than-sensational but welcome. China offers a strong second place at 30,762 metric tons (up 17.1%), while India falls slightly (16,805 metric tons, down 3.5%) and Italy continues to drop off (6,278 metric tons, down 30.7%).

WORKED MARBLE VALUE
Total: $23.7 million (+24.0%)
Sector leader: Italy @ $11.3 million (+38.2%)

Backfill: The sector keeps moving up, despite two of the top four showing declines from June 2011: Spain ($1.9 million, down 5.2%) and Turkey ($1.9 million, down 15.4%). Second-place China provides a boost at $4.6 million; Brazil’s $617,386 may only rank sixth, but it’s a 252.5% June-to-June leap.

WORKED MARBLE VOLUME
Total: 20,326 metric tons (+18.8%)
Sector leader: China @ 6,401 metric tons (+26.5%)

Backfill: China muscles back into first in volume, although Italy’s second place remains close at 6,093 metric tons (up 24.7%). Turkey picks up 13.2% from June 2011 at 2,395 metric tons; Spain, the only other country shipping more than 1,000 metric tons, drops 13.6% from the previous year at 2.236 metric tons.

TRAVERTINE VALUE
Total: $22.6 million (-8.1%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ $15.0 million (-9.1%)

Backfill: Values take a dip as sector leader Turkey scales back. Second-place Mexico brakes harder, down 13.2% from last June with $4 million. China makes the biggest move, jumping up 37.9% to $1.1 million.

TRAVERTINE VOLUME
Total: 38,667 metric tons (-6.2%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ 30,049 metric tons (-7.7%)

Backfill: With Turkey accounting for 77.7% of shipments to the United States, a slowdown from Asia Minor means less travertine imported, period. Mexico also lags behind last June, down 10.3% at 4,889 metric tons. China remains bullish at 1,552 metric tons, up 61.2%.