StatWatch: U.S. Stone Imports, May 2011

TRAVERTINE VALUE
Total: $23.1 million (6.2%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ $15.1 million (6.5%)

Backfill: Travertine – at least in customs value – lets the good times roll for stone imports this month, led by perennial leader Turkey. Mexico also lends a big hand here, with $4.6 million passing last year’s amount by 7.1 percent. China also steps up with a 10.1% increase to $876,834, while Italy’s $898,834 offers nominal 1.5% growth. Peru takes a tumble of 34.7% from last year, finishing this May at $720,567.

TRAVERTINE VOLUME
Total: 37,717 metric tons (-1.7%)
Sector leader: Turkey @ 29,048 metric tons (6.1%)

Backfill: Even a good gain by sector leader Turkey doesn’t put travertine’s overall tonnage in positive territory. Mexico boomerangs from its May value increase by posting a volume loss of 27.6% at 5,272 metric tons; other major declines include Peru (684 metric tons, -36.7%) and Italy (630 metric tons, -55.6%). At least China offers a 17.4% gain from last year 885 metric tons … but that’s also down by almost half from April 2011 totals.

OTHER CALCAREOUS VALUE
Total: $7.7 million (-10.4%)
Sector leader: China @ $1.2 million (38.1%)

Backfill: Sure, there’s a 10% overall drop from May 2010, but that’s also the last month of Lebanon’s appearance in this U.S. import category. There’s only a few thousand dollars of difference (by value) from May to May between the top 15 importers; the biggest knock comes from Italy, down 43.4% at $936,108, with Portugal also dipping 19.6% at $784,273. France bucks up nicely at $770,726 (+45.1%), and Mexico shines at $670,347 (+21.7%).

OTHER CALCAREOUS VOLUME
Total: 14,054 metric tons (-76.0%)
Sector leader: Mexico @ 6,631 metric tons (1,287.2%)

Backfill: This is it; May 2011 marks the one-year anniversary of Lebanon’s last major shipments of other calcareous to the United States, which means a return to comparable year-to-year numbers next month. For now, it’s still a dance of factoring out Lebanon’s final impact and a massively abnormal May 2010 total from Turkey to get a real trend; slice those two countries from last year’s mix, and that 76% loss turns into a 121% gain. Trying to make sense of this May’s actual tonnage defies logic, as Mexico continues its fourth straight month of huge extraordinary shipments across the border.

SLATE VALUE
Total: $4.7 million (-5.0%)
Sector leader: China @ $2.2 million (7.4%)

Backfill: While totals aren’t as good as last May, slate still records its best month of the year. The fall-off is due to India’s $1.7 million shipped to the United States, down 19.7% from the previous May. Brazil also fell off by 9.4%, although it’s in a distant third with May’s total of $318,078.