Mid-Year 2011 U.S. Stone Imports

Mexico, for its part, held firm; the first-half value of Mexican travertine is $24.5 (up 1.6 percent) and the 29,321 metric tons entering the United States is just off (-0.4 percent) mid-2010 totals.

However, it’s worth noting that Turkey had an out-of-proportion increase in travertine shipments in June 2010, which could skew comparisons with this year by a few percentage points. For January-May this year, Turkey trended up on a month-by-month comparison to 2010.

OTHER CALCAREOUS

Last year, Lebanon’s incredible output skewed U.S. other calcareous data. This year, it’s Mexico. Let’s be honest: This category is a mess, and year-to-year comparisons are close to meaningless.

The massive amounts of Lebanese stone showing up at U.S. docks, with values at less than a quarter of other countries’ exports, made hash of any reasonable study. Then, last May, the flow of other calcareous from Lebanon to the United States stopped. Cold. As in straight to zero.

So, it’s not surprising that the six-month volume for other calcareous imports this year comes in at 76,990 metric tons, down 73.7 percent from the same time in 2011. The stone’s custom value, which was almost laughable with Lebanese exports, declined by only 3.2 percent to $44.7 million.

Unfortunately, there’s a new problem country: Mexico. No, the fault doesn’t lie with the stone or its exporters; it’s the flow of the stone that makes a ton of bricks seem like a dribble from a sippy cup.

Through this June, Mexico’s sent 33,976 metric tons of other calcareous across the border, which is 44.1% of total imports of the stone.  It’s an increase from last year of 1,201.8 percent – yes, that number’s correct – with a VPT of $119.99. (The next-closest other calcareous VPN is China’s $771.81.)

Clearly, somebody’s shipping a huge amount of Mexican limestone. Where it’s going is, at this point, a complete mystery.

SLATE

Because of a different tariff assessment, slate imports aren’t measured in weight. The stone gets a customs value, however; in mid-2011, there isn’t much change from the previous year.

By the end of June, U.S. stone imports of dimensional (non-roofing) slate totaled $25.9 million in customs values, representing a 0.2-percent drop from mid-2011. India exported the most to the United States – $10.36 million – but that’s also a 8.6-percent drop from last June. China sent just a bit less at $10.32 million, upping its ante by 4.2 percent from last year.

OTHER STONE

Nothing looks good in the catchall category for dimensional stone in 2011, which hasn’t caught much of the recovery from the recession. Customs values through mid-2011 is $83 million, down 24.2 percent from last June; volume decreased by 26.7 percent to 100,970 tons.

Of the top four exporters to the United States, China provided the one bit of positive news; its shipments of 15,484 metric tons represented a 1.1-percent increase from last June.