StatWatch: February 2011

TRAVERTINE VOLUME
Total: 29,613 metric tons (-11.9%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ 22,595 metric tons (-16.9%)

Backfill: It’s time for the hoary old cliché of mixed bag here, as the tallies from the docks indicate … well, confusion. Turkey’s massive presence drives the whole sector down, but only one other country among the leaders shows a decline from February 2010: Peru, down 15.2 percent at 556 metric tons.

Mexico’s going the other way, with a 3.4-percent increase from last year at 4,184 metric tons (and a nice increase from January 2011’s 3,235 metric tons). China ramps up dramatically with its 1,662 metric tons translating to a 76.6-percent increase from the previous February – as well as a 400,000 metric-ton bump from January 2011’s tally. 

OTHER CALCAREOUS VALUE
Total: $5.8 million (1.2%)
Sector leader: China @ $1.1 million (44.6%)

Backfill: Compare those gains from February 2011 in other calcareous import values – the entire sector and the new leader, China – and you’ll understand the wild ride taken by the market. Portugal, for example, swings into a strong second at $712,526 (up 21.8 percent from February 2010) while Italy tumbles from first to third with $654,559 and a 48.4-percent drop from last year. Spain’s $582,732 marks a 133.2-percent gain from a year ago, while Turkey takes a 37.4-percent header at $430,365.

Just where this category is headed remains unclear in the value category. While overall values are up from a year ago, the February 2011 totals are significantly lower than the $7.5 million posted last month. It’s interesting that out of the top seven countries in January 2011, only one – China – shows an increase one month later.

OTHER CALCAREOUS VOLUME
Total: 16,683 metric tons (-43.9%)
Sector leader: Mexico @ 9,814 metric tons (2,365.8%)

Backfill: Welcome to the funhouse created by Lebanon, a that country’s shipments of other calcareous flooded the market for several years – and then, last May, the Lebanese stone quit coming. The result is a mess where market leaders pop up as randomly as lotto balls at a drawing. In February, the top supplier is Mexico, and the massive growth percentage is correct; a year ago, shipments totaled only 347 metric tons.

It’ll take a few more months until the Lebanon Effect, along with a couple of abnormal totals from other countries, clear the system and make the market situation clearer.  Until then, it’s baffling.