U.S. Stone Imports 2011: A Little Bit Better

Then there’s the actual volume of worked granite entering the United States in 2011:

And there’s that one number to make people nervous; the amount of worked granite imports dropping 14% from 2010. All of the top four exporters to the United States took a tumble in tonnage, from China’s dip of 1.9% to Italy’s 50% fall; Canada, with an 88.3% increase, starts to look like a real player in the market.

Don’t start getting gloomy about granite, however. The numbers may be discouraging at first glance, but the year-end totals aren’t the whole story. Less stone, oddly enough, could signal better times in the market.

Italy’s big fall-off in 2011 is rooted in some abnormal shipments in 2010 that skewed the final totals for both years. While most month in 2010 fell in the 6,000-8,000 metric-ton range for Italian granite imports, three months (April, October, December) accounted for a total 89,809 metric tons – more than half the year’s shipments. Meanwhile, in 2011, Italy didn’t have one month with 10,000 metric tons shipped of granite (and only one 9,000+ metric-ton-month).

To a lesser extent, Brazil didn’t experience big months in granite shipments to the United States in 2011; while volume exceeded 60,000 metric tons in five different months in 2010 (including two 90,000+ metric-ton months), the biggest month last year was September’s 59,793 metric tons. Shipment remained fairly constant in the 40,00-50,000 metric-ton range per month, but no big month spiked the totals last year.

Canada’s big move, meanwhile, probably won’t last in 2012. More than 40% of 2011’s granite volume comes from January’s 21,139 metric tons, with the rest of the year averaging 2,000-3,000 metric tons per month.

After 2010’s gains, the sudden drop in worked-granite import volume isn’t a resounding vote of confidence in the market’s recovery. Couple with the decent 6.3% growth in value, however, the drop may less of a problem than it might seem.

Higher values with lesser tonnage could very well mean that there’s less demand for cheaper materials and a move to better granite, leading to more work where the price per ft² isn’t everything. How granite’s volume plays out throughout 2012 will be the key indicator for the level of recovery; the high-water mark of 2006’s 2.6-million metric tons, however, isn’t likely to be matched for a long time, if ever.

MARBLE

Worked (slab/tile) marble, meanwhile, offers some of the best news in U.S. stone imports for 2011, starting with import values:

Among the four major players, only China shows any decline with a miniscule 0.2%. The main theme for 2011 seemed to be increasing the shipments; even Greece, with all its monetary turmoil last year, managed to increase the value of exports to the United States by more than 30% to bring a small helping of economic relief.

Italy’s large increase (26.7%) in import values last year also affected worked-marble volume, as nearly every country reported large gains in 2011 from 2010:

However, Italy’s gains fell short – if only barely – of claiming the top U.S. marble-supplier position; China, the 2010 leader, kept pace in 2011. Turkey also offered a same-again for 2011, besting the previous year by only six metric tons.

Worked-marble volume is still down from the 2007 heyday of 292,448 metric tons. But, it’s still moving up.