On the March with U.S. Surface Imports

 

U.S. imports of dimensional stone and quartz set a strong tone overall in March, but a weak February slowed some sectors in first-quarter (1Q) 2015 results.

The usual players – Brazil for granite, Italy for marble, Turkey for travertine – continued to lead their areas in metric-ton (MT) shipments, but the exclusive Stone Update analysis of data from the U.S International Trade Commission showed that the quartz-surface market may be headed for significant change.

The strong showing by key stone sectors in March offered an optimistic base for the U.S. dimensional-surface market to grow in the rest of 2015.

Here’s the breakdown, with figures in parentheses showing year-to-year growth or reduction from the same time in 2014. The monthly data for March in each sector is followed by 1Q 2015 totals.

GRANITE

March 2015: 146,836 MT (+43.9%)

1. Brazil – 63,704 MT (+15.8%)
2. India – 31,390 MT (+97.0%)
3. China – 29,085 MT (+58.0%)
4. Honduras – 5,482 MT (N/A)
5. Italy – 5,274% (-17.0%)

“Worked” (slab and tiles) granite section recovered from a dull start in January and February this year, with March imports rebounding to surpass last year by 43.9%. Both Brazil and India moved up from a February, and one-month-wonder Honduras helped March totals. (In all of 2014, the Central American country shipped just 33 MT to the United States.)

Italy’s continued decline is another sign that the major U.S. granite suppliers is shrinking to the Big Three (Brazil, India, China), although Italy’s value-per-ton of granite in imports is among the highest every month.

First Quarter 2015: 358,860 MT (-2.9%)

1. Brazil – 168,094 MT (+1.7%)
2. China – 86,861 MT (-31.1%)
3. India – 62,531 MT (+41.6%)
4. Italy – 15,063 MT (-10.0%)
5. Spain – 4,380 MT (-2.0%)

Brazil remained as the king for U.S. worked granite, shipping 46.8% of all of the stone received in ports-of-entry in 1Q 2015. Only a slow February kept the country from supplying more than 50% of foreign granite.

China, however, remains a puzzle, despite its second-place standing, with extremely uniform outflow to the United States. Month-to month shipments for 1Q 2015 varied by less than 1,200 MT.

MARBLE

March 2015: 29,844 MT (+41.1%)

1. Italy – 8,558 MT (+8.9%)
2. Turkey – 8,194 MT (+109.9%)
3. China – 6,661 MT (105.6%)
4. India – 1,666 MT (+71.9%)
5. Spain – 1,492 MT (-15.3%)

U.S. imports of worked marble continued with steady growth in March, with Italy wresting back the top spot among suppliers. Turkey, even with its move down to #2, showed that it remained strong by easily outpacing China; both countries, however, managed to double U.S. shipments from a year ago.

First Quarter 2015: 83,765 MT (+33.2%)

1. Turkey – 22,638 MT (+106.0%)
2. Italy – 22,427 MT (+13.8%)
3. China – 20,277 MT (+31.5%)
4. India – 5,713 MT (+115.5%)
5. Spain – 4,746 MT (-11.6%)

Country-to-country import totals rarely get as close as the 211 MT margin between Turkey and Italy. Turkey’s lead may be an anomaly, given Italy’s poor February import total for worked marble, but the first three months showed steady growth in shipments from Turkish ports.

QUARTZ SLABS

March 2015: 4,948,832 ft² (+55.2%)

1. China – 1,490,682 ft² (+229.8%)
2. Israel – 1,107,702 ft² (+13.4%)
3. Spain – 752,095 ft² (+6.7%)
4. Canada – 475,786 ft² (+21.2%)
5. Vietnam – 462,686 ft² (120.2%)

China’s move to the top spot for shipping quartz slabs isn’t a complete surprise; it moved to #1 for a one-month stand last December. The bump-up in supplying quartz to the United States continued into this year, and its dominance over established, name-brand manufacturers in Israel and Spain in March is astonishing.

And, the 55.2% overall growth rate for quartz-slab imports indicated a red-hot market, moving into the spring construction season.

First Quarter 2015: 13,226,476 ft² (+42.1%)

1. Israel – 3,517,051 ft² (+21.2%)
2. China – 3,403,545 ft² (+105.4%)
3. Spain – 2,215,921 ft² (+3.7%)
4. Canada – 1,213,533 ft² (+11.4%)
5. Vietnam – 1,182,285 ft² (+138.5%)

Israel’s lead for the first three months, along with a +20% year-to-year growth, is an impressive achievement. And, it’s understandable, given Caesarstone’s exclusive deal with North American IKEA home centers and continued recognition by U.S. consumers.

The real news here, though, is with China and Vietnam doubling their shipments to the United States. Given the controlled-distribution nature of the quartz slab market in previous years, the major growth from countries offering OEM and cash-and-carry availability may lead to a red-hot market torching part (or all) of the old way of doing business with quartz.

TRAVERTINE

March 2015: 62,277 MT (+11.5%)

1. Turkey – 43,400 MT (-8.0%)
2. Mexico – 15,138 MT (+169.1%)
3. Italy – 1,198 MT (+17.4%)
4. Peru – 931 MT (+16.4%)
5. China – 801 MT (-15.3%)

This March proved rare; overall travertine imports increased while tonnage from market master Turkey decreased. A massive increase from Mexico made the difference for the month and helped boost 1Q totals.

First Quarter 2015: 178,336 MT (+27.7%)

1. Turkey – 146,368 MT (+24.3%)
2. Mexico – 23,865 MT (+69.9%
3. Italy – 2,614 MT (-15.7%)
4. China – 2,572 MT (+39.3%)
5. Peru – 1,752 MT (-25.9%)

OTHER CALCEREOUS

March 2015: 13,634 MT (+32.8%)
Sector leader: France – 3,276 MT (+742.2%)

First Quarter 2015: 38,542 MT (-12.4%)
Sector leader: China – 10,636 MT (+89.6%)

OTHER STONE

March 2015: 23,656 MT (+10.9%)
Sector leader: Brazil – 7,004 MT (-9.0%)
 
First Quarter 2015: 59,062 MT (-8.7%)
Sector leader: Brazil – 17,910 MT (-26.6%)

SLATE

March 2015: $5,110,355 (+39.0%)
Sector leader: China – $2,676,316 (+88.3%)

First Quarter 2015: $13,889,482 (+9.8%)
Sector leader: China – $7,869,335 (+25.1%)

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