StatWatch, July 2018: China Quartz Torrent Continues

By Emerson Schwartzkopf

The quartz-surface flow from China poured faster into the United States in July as new tariffs loomed on the late-summer horizon.

The 12.1 million ft² of Chinese quartz-surface slabs received here in July not only topped the country’s July 2017 total by 122.8%. According to data from the U.S. International Trade Commission with Stone Update analysis, China’s latest monthly total bested, by 30.4%, the entire shipments of all 20 countries sending quartz slabs the previous July.

China, however, also figured in granite’s further decline among U.S. hard-surface imports. And marble, which showed recent strength, continued a slow-growth mode in July.

QUARTZ

China’s quartz-surface export action in July reflected a full knowledge – even with the multi-week sailing-time lag across the Pacific – of proposed tariffs based on Cambria Company LLC’s fair-trade complaint. Chinese producers also faced discussion of additional general import levies from the Trump administration (finally announced in mid-July).

The 12,109,969 ft² shipped from China in July, is, of course, another record from one country. It also far outpaced the next-largest shipper in July: Israel, with 1.6 million ft².

While small in comparison to China, the Israeli total in July represented a 36.4% year-to-year growth; of the top 10 quartz-surface exporters to the United States, seven showed double-digit growth from July 2017. Israel made a big jump from last July with 822,416 ft² (+50.4%) this year, and India tickled the 800K level with its largest shipment ever: 797,508 ft² (+146.9%).

Only seventh-place Vietnam (-58.4%) and ninth-place Italy (-26.3%) posted a decline, while Canada made only a slight move 2.9% move up the scale.

GRANITE

Worked (sawn, one-side polished) granite continued to underperform this year, with July’s 1.1 million metric tons falling 8.6% behind last year’s shipments. As with this June, the sector suffers from low shipments from leader Brazil and a double-digit (21.2%) drop from second-place China (262,723 metric tons).

India, meanwhile, moved into a very close third place with 260,933 metric tons (+13.0%). Spain led the best of the rest with 79,740 metric tons (+22.8%), followed by Canada (60,074 metric tons, +101.4%). Italy, the sector leader a decade-and-a-half ago, moved down to sixth with 32.110 metric tons (-12.8%)

MARBLE

Worked marble managed to keep pace with the previous year, with the 96,245 metric tons received in July marking a 2.1% increase. Turkey gets the credit for keeping the sector above 2017 levels by consistently shipping at least 35,000 metric tons each month this year; that easily doubles exports from China, which continue to represent 15%-20% less volume than 2017. (July’s 17,480 metric tons in July were 16.2% off of last year’s total.)

Italy’s July shipment of 12,978 metric tons barely made par compared with last year (+0.9%). India continued its 2018 growth, meanwhile, with 9,944 metric tons (+34.9%).

For more information on U.S. hard-surface imports for the first half of 2018, look for coverage in the September-October Stone Update Magazine, available exclusively online late this month.

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