Port-of-Entry

The General View: January is midway into the Queasy Quarter for U.S. hard-surface imports. January 2022’s $429.9 million in customs value outpaces January 2021 by 12.1% and is 37.4% ahead of pre-pandemic January 2019. The Expected: The leader in January 2022 customs value? Yes, again, it’s quartz slabs at $142.6 million, forging past January 2021 levels by almost 25%. But …. The Unexpected: … month-to-month quartz-slab volume throttled back by 7.4% to 16.8 million ft². The big drop among countries shipping more than one million square-feet is Vietnam’s back-shuffle of 17%. Malaysia is the sole gainer among million-square-footers at 3.5%. (However, Malaysia’s January 2022 quartz-slab volume is 15.2% behind the same time in 2021.) The Strange: In January, the biggest month-to-month drop in porcelain from countries shipping more than a million square feet belonged to Ukraine, with volume dropping by 58.9%. Then again, they likely had bigger worries. Next Month: February is traditionally a slow month for U.S. hard-surface imports. Don’t expect major revelations from next month’s data. Much like the U.S. college basketball season, it’s March that matters.