Port-of-Entry

The General View: Another month, another record. U.S. hard-surface import values of $538.5 million in July resets the bar with a second running month topping a half-billion dollars. Rising monetary levels are less of a big deal in a time of rising inflation, but a 9.1% rise from last year is more than currency adjustments.

The Expected: Quartz-slab volume went back on the growth track, with 19.8 million ft² rolling through U.S. ports-of-entry in July. That’s a heady increase of 16.6% from the same time last year. Remarkably, that’s not a record, although it’s a close second to the 20.5 million ft² shipped to the United States this May.

The Unexpected: Quartz-slab imports remained healthy despite some previous market leaders showing large year-to-year volume declines: Israel (-40%), Canada (-34%), Italy (-16%) and Malaysia (-90%). Making up the deficit are India (+55%), Spain (+32%) and Thailand (+178%).

The Strange: Marble may be peaking, as volume through July is down almost 3% from the same time in 2021. Demand can’t get much flatter than the past two months on record; the 80,438 metric tons coming to U.S. ports of entry in July is only 18 metric tons less than June’s shipments.

Next Month: Quartz slab (and travertine) looked good in July, but other hard-surface sectors offered moribund performance in shipments during a usually brisk time with the summer building season in full swing. Look for more signs of a general slowdown in August.