U.S. Stone Imports, September 2011
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 September 2011 (change from September 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: $101.3 million (14.7%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ $51.4 million (22.7%)
Backfill: Brazil turns in its best value performance since October 2007 to pump up the monthly total; India’s $14.5 million is a 26.4% boost from last September. China, at $18.1 million, and Italy, at $10.1 million, show modest declines of 1.2% and 1.6%, respectively.
WORKED GRANITE VOLUME
Total: 134,091 metric tons (6.1%)
Sector leader: Brazil @ 59,627 metric tons (-16.2%)
Backfill: Brazil’s backslide from September 2010 is still the best U.S. shipment total in 11 months. China kept U.S. docks busy with 39,473 metric tons, up 64.4% from last September; India’s 20,446 metric tons beat last year’s mark by 41%. Italy took a 5.5% slip with 6,468 metric tons.
WORKED MARBLE VALUE
Total: $20.0 million (42.0%)
Sector leader: Italy @ $9.5 million (42.8%)
Backfill: The four leaders – Italy, China, Turkey and Spain – don’t fare as well as last month, but all post double-digit increases from the previous September. Turkey leads the way with its $2.1 million showing a 51.3% gain. And while Greece takes a battering in eurozone finance, its $858K of U.S. shipments beat last September by 105.2%.
WORKED MARBLE VOLUME
Total: 15,831 metric tons (24.2%)
Sector leader: Italy @ 4,947 metric tons (29.4%)
Backfill: Italy swings back into first place, but barely; China follows closely at 4,773 metric tons, a 21.85 increase from September 2010. Spain only manages a 1.2% increase at 1,236 metric tons, while Turkey takes a tumble of 7.6% to 1,798 metric tons.
TRAVERTINE VALUE
Total: $24.1 million (5.3%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ $17.0 million (8.1%)
Backfill: There’s an overall gain from September 2010, but only Mexico brings in a double-digit increase – 14.1% at $3.9 million. Italy moves up a modest 3.1% to $1.1 million, while China slips 30.4% to $910K, and Peru drops 34.9% to $638K. September’s numbers are also the weakest for value this year since May.
TRAVERTINE VOLUME
Total: 48,326 metric tons (16.6%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ 40,797 metric tons (28.9%)
Backfill: U.S. shipments look more this September like the post-recession reality, with most of major countries posting deficits from a year ago; Mexico’s 9% drop at 4,770 metric tons seems small compared with China’s drop of 50% at 904 metric tons. Coming in sixth this month with 419 metric tons is Tokelau, a set of coral atolls 300 miles north of Samoa with the smallest economy (by GDP) of any country on Earth.
