U.S. Stone Imports, August 2011

Marble, travertine and other calcareous stone remain strong through the summer. Granite, however, is lagging.

By Emerson Schwartzkopf

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 August 2011 (change from August 2010 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: $96.1 million (-3.7%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ $40.7 million (-7.0%)

Backfill: The heady growth of early summer in granite imports is fizzling out; besides Brazil’s slowdown in customs values, China’s $19.8 million is a 7.8% decline from August 2010. India manages to step up by 9.9% to $16.3 million, while Italy’s loss is marginal (-0.9%) at  $11.9 million.

WORKED GRANITE VOLUME
Total: 115,729 metric tons (-36.0%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ 47,627 metric tons (-51.7%)

Backfill: Tonnage totals fall for most countries during a month that often shows large gains in a year. China’s 28,437 metric tons is 35.8% less than the previous August; Italy shows a 20.9% drop with 8,094 metric tons. Only India gains among granite’s Big Four, with 21,289 metric tons representing a 13.8% rise..

WORKED MARBLE VALUE
Total: $23.8 million (18.3%)
Sector leader: Italy @ $11.3 million (26.4%)

Backfill: It’s a happy time for marble with double-digit growth in customs values, fueled mainly by Italy and an on-the-rebound Turkey with $2.5 million, up 80.7% from August 2010. China ($4.5 million, up 7.2%) and Spain ($2.3 million, up 10.0%) also pitch in to boost the market.

WORKED MARBLE VOLUME
Total: 20,408 metric tons (17.3%)
Sector leader: China @ 6,558 metric tons (20.3%)

Backfill: The double figures aren’t dipping in marble tonnage, either. China moves back into first place, but Italy trails closely with 6,013 metric tons, up 21.1% from the previous August. Turkey makes a strong recovery at 2,611 metric tons (up 40.4%); Spain gains some ground at 2,484 metric tons (up 2.8%).

TRAVERTINE VALUE
Total: $26.0 million (16.5%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ $17.1 million (18.9%)

Backfill: Everybody pitches in to improve from August 2010, from Turkey to Mexico ($4.6 million. up 12.5%) to Italy ($1.4 million, up 22.6%) to China ($1.3 million, up 10.2%). While Peru didn’t make the million-dollar club, the $882K in value beats the previous August by 14.3%.