Stone Imports: First-Half Improvements in 2012
The story of granite shipments, meanwhile, is shakier, with a dip of 4.6% from first-half 2011.
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A large part of the decline comes from Canada’s whopper January 2011, which came in some 18,000 metric tons above the country’s usual shipment and distorted early data from last year. However, there’s no getting around the decline from most exporting countries, particularly in April-June. Brazil manages to maintain continued growth among the larger exporters, and Taiwan showing consistent strength among all the second-tier shippers.
The large boost in the roundup of “All Others” in first-half 2012 comes solely from Argentina; the country rarely manages to top 100 metric tons monthly, but records a huge 4,061 metric tons in May. (In June, the country’s shipment sank back to 113 metric tons.
MARBLE
Many marble-exporting countries may number among the top areas in political or economic turmoil in 2012, but trade figures offer a plus, including the 20.7% increase in value for overall U.S.-bound worked marble.
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Italy remains the clear value leader, getting much more for its marble. Other large improvements came in the blanket “All Others” category, including a doubling in first-half values from Portugal and Mexico, and a boost into the million-dollar level by Pakistan.
China’s value total indicates a small slip in marble exports … but it’s also a place where value and volume tell two different stories, especially as overall worked-marble shipments to the United States rose by 13.7% in 2012’s first half.
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Italy’s large gain this year (20.8%) pushes the country back to #1 in volume, but China also shows a decent gain of slightly more than 4%. All the leading exporters manage to outpace 2011 this year, and Turkey’s lackluster 0.4% growth results from a weak first quarter; its second-quarter shipments top April-June last year by almost 15%.