Import Trends 2008

MARBLE
U.S. marble imports aren’t as spectacular in size as granite; neither is the movement in value and volume from year-to-year. In 2008, marble shipments fell along with other stones, but with a smaller impact.

Worked-marble import value in 2008 came to $290.8 million, down 8.7 percent from 2007’s record $318.6 million. And, once again, the leading exporter is Italy, with its 2008 total of $134 million representing only a 1.1-percent drop from the previous year.

Spain took the biggest tumble in overall worked-marble value, with 2008’s $34.1 million accounting for a 29-percent decline from 2007 and dropping it to third place. Moving up is China, where its $43.9 million last year barely registered a decline of 1.5 percent from 2007.

Among other major worked-marble exporters (more than $10 million in value), Turkey’s $22.7 million marked a 9.5-percent decline; Greece dropped 9.3 percent from 2007 with $11.9 million this past year. Countries exporting below $10 million to the United States took harder hits, such as with Israel’s $5 million (down 23.4 percent) and India’s $7.7 million (down 20.1 percent).

Overall worked-marble tonnage to the United States last year totaled 232,603 metric tons, down 20.4 percent from 2007. Again, Italy leads the way with 72,034 metric tons, sowing a 13.7-percent decline from the previous year.

China, meanwhile, continues to close the gap with Italy on worked-marble volume; while its 52,100 metric tons last year is a 10-percent decline from 2007, the difference in metric-ton imports between the two countries dropped to less than 20,000.

The 2008 news wasn’t pretty for the other two countries – Spain and Turkey – shipping more than 10,000 metric tons of worked marble. Spain’s 31,702 metric tons revealed a 34.8-percent decline from 2007, while Turkey saw a 28.6-percent drop with its 24,887 metric tons.

Nobody went on price-cutting jags when it came to worked marble in 2008. Italy’s average of $1,860.28 per metric ton showed a 14.5-percent increase from 2007. Spain and China also marked increases of nine percent with the per-metric-ton averages of $1,075.95 and $842.85, respectively. Turkey, however, received the biggest bounce, with its $914.44 average besting 2007 by 26.7 percent.