StatWatch: Quartz Up, But Not By Half

June 13, 2013

So growth isn’t quite 50% in April – 48% is more than healthy. The Top Two, however, becomes the Top Three as China goes past Israel in chasing Spain.

Spain remains a solid first in customs valuation for April 2013, but the 71% year-to-year increase is due mainly to a less-than-average month in April 2012. Israel, meanwhile, drops to $3 million, its lowest monthly values total in more than a year. China pushes past last year’s pace by 158.7% to finish at $2.6 million, while Canada rounds out the million-dollar shippers this April at $1.7 million (+12.8%). Vietnam makes some serious gains at $438,443 (+170.8%).

U.S. Quartz Slab Imports – Value
(U.S. dollars)

	Apr-13	Apr-12	Change
Spain	$7,644,143	$4,467,876	71.1%
Israel	$3,036,057	$4,136,990	-26.6%
China	$2,687,176	$1,038,584	158.7%
Canada	$1,730,497	$1,534,766	12.8%
Italy	$592,494	$891,341	-33.5%
Vietnam	$438,443	$161,926	170.8%
India	$354,544	$441,985	-19.8%
Korea	$164,212	$61,316	167.8%
Portugal	$162,156	$132,157	22.7%
Belgium	$108,710	$97,634	11.3%
Brazil	$107,346	$17,702	506.4%
Czech Republic	$70,629	$30,267	133.4%
Germany	$32,024	$0	N/A
Kenya	$29,821	$0	N/A
Philippines	$15,200	$0	N/A

Total	$17,173,452	$13,012,544	32.0%
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

Spain again tops the quartz-slab volume chart, although a weaker April 2012 performance is the main reason for the 79% growth in April 2013. The serious muscle comes with China, as it shoulders into second in April with 145.5% growth from 2012. Israel takes a 28.6% tumble from April 2012, although the difference with China’s total this April is less than 26,000 ft². India does a reverse of its 19.8% drop in import values in April 2013 to a 194.7% boom in volume; some of this may be attributable to a large private order for an unmentionable(s) client.

U.S. Quartz Slab Imports – Volume
(square feet)

	Apr-13	Apr-12	Change
Spain	881,951	492,664	79.0%
China	366,511	149,371	145.4%
Israel	340,710	477,304	-28.6%
India	164,106	55,692	194.7%
Canada	141,847	128,230	10.6%
Italy	69,007	51,882	33.0%
Vietnam	46,597	18,083	157.7%
Korea	25,058	7,718	224.7%
Portugal	22,292	15,048	48.1%
Belgium	12,228	9,957	22.8%
Czech Republic	8,041	4,176	92.5%
Kenya	5,145	0	N/A
Brazil	5,102	775	558.3%
Germany	4,445	0	N/A
Philippines	344	0	N//A

Total	2,093,385	1,410,900	48.4%
Source: U.S. International Trade Commission, Stone Update analysis

StatWatch is a snapshot of U.S. dimensional-stone and hard-surfaces imports, offering a summary and exclusive Stone Update analysis of data from the U.S. International Trade Commission. Comparisons are made mainly to gauge market trends. Analysis is made on import figures of the latest month available.

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