U.S. Stone Imports, February 2012

Granite makes gains in value and tonnage in February, along with marble and travertine. Even the catch-all category of Other Stone offers good news for a change.

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 February 2012 (change from February 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: $58.3 million (+13.4%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ $23.7 million (+29.4%)

Backfill: 2012 continues in good shape for granite import values with more good news from India at $9.7 million, up 16.2% from February 2011. Canada ($1.4 million, + 69%) and Taiwan ($1.2 million, +31%) also help to offset some slow times from India ($15.3 million, -2.1/%) and Italy ($5 million, -12.3%).

WORKED GRANITE VOLUME
Total: 69,143 metric tons (+17.0%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ 30,985 metric tons (+44.2%)

Backfill: Brazil carrries this category this February, with help again from India’s 11,539 metric tons (+9.5% from February 2011).  In tonnage, it’s also becoming the Big Three; while China’s 18,950 metric tons (-3.8%) shows high volume, Italy’s 3,031 metric tons (-25.1%) indicates shipping shrinkage closer to the level of fifth-place Canada (1,572 metric tons, +75.8%).

WORKED MARBLE VALUE
Total: $12.5 million (+10.0%)
Sector leader: Italy @ $4.6 million (+18.7%)

Backfill: February offers an up-and-down month; Spain looks better than February 2011 ($1.7 million, +32.1%), while Turkey dips ($1 million, -30.6%) and China continues a losing streak ($2.5 million, -18.8%). India, meanwhile, gets the biggest boost ($559K, +280.4%).

WORKED MARBLE VOLUME
Total: 11,891 metric tons (3.9%)
Sector leader: China @ 3,580 metric tons (-23.2%)

Backfill: Italy delivers the goods with 2,661 metric tons, up 20.5% from February 2011. Spain also moves up (1,803 metric tons, +32.5%) while Turkey goes through another drop (1,358 metric tons, -23.4%).

TRAVERTINE VALUE
Total: $19.4 million (+5.1%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ $12.4 million (-1.5%)

Backfill: Second-place Mexico also fails to top February 2011 ($3.6 million, -0.9%), but the rest of the field makes up for the leaders, including Italy ($1.2 million, +107.2%), China ($1 million, +37.4%) and Peru ($624K, +15.8%).

TRAVERTINE VOLUME
Total: 38,365 metric tons (+29.6%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ 30,785 metric tons (36.2%)

Backfill: Boom times continue for most countries from February 2011 levels, with China (2,138 metric tons, +28.6), Peru (731 metric tons, +31.5%) and Italy (572 metric tons, +48.2%). The one sour note comes from Mexico (3,887 metric tons, -7.1%).

OTHER CALCAREOUS VALUE
Total: $6.0 million (+2.5%)
Sector leader: China @ $1.0 million (-10.8%)

Backfill: Italy comes to the rescue this month for the value side of the tally, with its $833K beating February 2011’s mark by 27.4%. Turkey also pumps it up ($779K, +81.1%) and Portugal posts a modest (+2.3%) gain with $728K.

OTHER CALCAREOUS VOLUME
Total: 6,540 metric tons (-60.8%)
Sector leader: China @ 1,102 metric tons (-10.8%)

Backfill: Comparing tonnage with 2011 is difficult, due to some massive shipments from Mexico for six months last year (340 metric tons this February vs. 9,814 metric tons a year ago). Turkey turns upward with 1,034 metric tons (+149.2%), along with Italy (1,016 metric tons, +185.4%).

SLATE VALUE
Total: $3.6 million (-10.2%)
Sector leader: China @ $1.6 million (-11.5%)

Backfill: India also falls short of February 2011 ($1.1 million, -17.5%), and Brail also falls short ($317K, -2.5%). The $84K from the United Kingdom marks the third consecutive month that the country failed to reach $100K.

OTHER STONE VALUE
Total: $13.4 million (+10.6%)
Sector leader: India @ $4.8 million (+31.2%)

Backfill: The omnibus category of stone goes through a revival in 2012, with Brazil also recovering nicely from the previous February at $3.8 million (+50.4%). Canada also moves into seven-figure territory with $1.3 million (+37.9%); only China slides among the leaders ($1.7 million, -2.7%).

OTHER STONE VOLUME
Total: 14.427 metric tons (-5.1%)
Sector leader: India @ 5,239 metric tons (+20.5%)

Backfill: Given the beating this category took in the past two years, a small overall decline isn’t all that bad. China provides the big stumble from February 2011 with 2,166 metric tons (-9.3%), but boosts come from Brazil (3,973 metric tons, +20.8%) and Canada (1,152 metric tons, +67.9%).

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