Port-of-Entry

The General View: December is the start of the Queasy Quarter for hard surfaces, when demand goes slack before business picks up as spring approaches. Even so, the $363.8 million in U.S. imports for the month is a significant 9.2% slip from November, and a hard 22.4% fall from the last month of 2021.

The Expected: The turnaround months of December, January and February tend to look dismal when compared with busier times with warmer weather and more construction starts. No surprise here for 2022, as those three were among the lowest months in hard-surface shipment import values.

The Unexpected: How brutal is that year-to-year December drop of 22.4%? Consider that, in December 2021 and December 2020, the year-to-year difference in shipment values for both was an increase of more than 20%. For December 2022, only one sector had an increase in import values from the previous year: Other Calcareous, at 1.3%. All the rest had double-digit declines.

The Strange: Both shipment value and volume for the Quartz-Slab sector dropped by 32% from December 2021. However, the difference from November 2022 to December 2022 in value was 10.8% … but volume showed only a nominal slip of 0.69%.

Next Month: The hope of several international observers is that the U.S. market is adjusting to demand and distributor/importer yards are brimming with material bought at bargain prices with a strong U.S. dollar. It may take until mid-spring to see if that’s the reality, or just wishful thinking.