U.S. Hard-Surface Imports: Mixed in May
By Emerson Schwartzkopf
Quartz-surface imports – particularly from China – kicked into high gear in May, while other hard surfaces declined in volume when compared to last year.
The 13.1 million ft² of quartz surfaces hitting U.S. docks in May set a new monthly record and bested May 2017’s total by 40%. China, with more than 7.4 million ft², provided more than half of the slabs passing through U.S. Customs and Border Protection control.
Marble also provided good news in May, with an 8.6% increase in shipments to the United States from the same time last year. The growth in volume came largely from Turkey, which increased its U.S. consignments of marble by more than 150% from May 2017.
Granite, meanwhile, continues to struggle to reach the levels of even a few years ago. U.S. imports in May trailed last year’s volume by 7.5%.
All of the import data is from the U.S. International Trade Commission, with analysis by Stone Update. (Changes from last year’s totals are shown in parentheses.)
QUARTZ SURFACES
Click chart to enlargeMay 2018: 13,180,234 ft² (+40.0%)
May sector leader: China, 7,444,410 ft² (+52.1%)
YTD: 54,174,084 ft² (+35.1%)
YTD sector leader: China, 30,795,463 (+57.1%)
So much for the apparent slowdown in the U.S. imports of quartz slabs. The overall increase of 40% from May 2017 for Chinese imports is bullish enough; it’s also twice the amount of year-to-year growth shown by the country in April. China set a record for monthly shipments to the United States in May with its 7.4 million ft², and the 13.1 million ft² coming into U.S. ports-of-entry from all countries is also a new monthly high.
It’s also important to note here that the May shipments began rolling from Chinese quartz-surface production plants before the announcement of the unfair trade petition submitted by Cambria Company LLC to the U.S. International Trade Commission in mid-April. Given the lag time between transport to China’s ports and transpacific sailing of container ship, the first reaction (in export flow) to the anti-dumping complaint won’t be fully apparent until July.
While China provided the largest share of growth, other major quartz-surface exporters made good year-to-yeqar gains in May, including Spain (2.2 million ft², +36.7%), Israel (674K ft², +15%) and India (661K ft², up 65.5%). Of the top five, only Canada recorded a loss from May 2017 (586K ft², -6.7%).
WORKED GRANITE
Click chart to enlargeMay 2018: 130,394 metric tons (-7.5%)
May sector leader: Brazil, 62,062 metric tons (-15.1%)
YTD: 535,804 metric tons (-8.7%)
YTD sector leader: Brazil, 240,502 metric tons (-15.0%)
May racks up yet another down month for worked (sawn, one side polished) granite. Market-sector leader Brazil shows some improvement in its 2018 progression – it posted the best month so far in May, but it still lags behind 2017 performance by 15% for both May and for year-to-date.
China takes the biggest skid among granite’s Big Three in May, with its 27,381 metric tons lagging behind the same time last year by 20.4%. India kept mostly stable in May, with the 23,861 metric tons showing a nominal 0.8% drop from 2017.
Canada didn’t keep pace with large shipments to the United States earlier this year, but the May total of 4,543 metric tons is 23.6% ahead of May 2017. Spain’s 8,640 metric tons in May translated to an 18.3% year-to-year increase. Italy, meanwhile managed worked-granite exports to the United States of only 2,961 metric tons in May – 53% behind last year.
WORKED MARBLE
Click chart to enlargeMay 2018: 44,525 metric tons (8.6%)
May sector leader: Turkey, 15,898 metric tons (+151.4%)
YTD: 182,739 metric tons (+3.3%)
YTD sector leader: Turkey, 64,199 metric tons (+98.7%)
Turkey takes two out of three of the calcareous categories in May 2018 U.S. imports, topping both the worked marble and travertine sectors … albeit that one of the two is still in sad shape.
Turkey easily topped all other countries in marble shipments to the United States in May, given its 151.4% growth from the same time last year. Second-place Italy sent 8,010 metric tons (-16.6%), while third-place India came in at 7,604 metric tons (+19%). China took the biggest dip, with its 6,406 metric tons amounting to a 44.5% decline from May 2017.
TRAVERTINE
Click chart to enlargeMay 2018: 27,504 metric tons (-27.9%)
May sector leader: Turkey, 20,692 metric tons (-23.1%)
YTD: 124,468 metric tons (-16.1%)
YTD sector leader: Turkey, 90,575 metric tons (-18.9%)
The good news in marble failed to carry over to travertine, which remains in a long-term slump for the U.S. hard-surface import market. Turkey posted its best month of 2018 in May, but still fell short of the same time last year by 23.1%. Mexico showed strength with 4,268 metric tons, up 21.9% from May 2017.
OTHER CALCAREOUS
Click chart to enlargeMay 2018: 14,218 metric tons (-29.3%)
May sector leader: Canada, 4,621 metric tons (-21.0%)
YTD: 60,894 metric tons (-4.2%)
YTD sector leader: China, 12,242 metric tons (-13.6%)
OTHER STONE
Click chart to enlargeMay 2018: 43,920 metric tons (-12.5%)
May sector leader: Brazil, 19,277 metric tons (-12.6%)
YTD: 177,324 metric tons (-5.0%)
YTD sector leader: Brazil, 70,018 metric tons (-20.0%)
Get the news of the industry with Slab & Sheet, the e-newsletter from Stone Update. Sign up for free delivery here.
For the latest industry info, check Stone Update on Twitter and Facebook.
Experience the totally new Stone Update Magazine online.
