Port-of-Entry

The General View: Those parting words of last month’s Port-of-Entry, with “We’ll put the word slowdown on ice for a month or two” – well, go ahead and hit the defrost button. The $488.6 million in total U.S. hard-surface import values for September is an 18% drop from August. Every major sector, save one, declined by nearly 17% or more. It’s a more-dramatic swing than during the lows of 2020’s pandemic spring.

The Expected: Quartz slab is the sector that went against the ebb tide in topping August value totals, but just barely at 1.1%. The 21.9 million ft² shipped to the United States in September beat the previous month by an even-thinner margin: 0.7%.

The Unexpected: The collapse in September of shipments in two sectors – worked marble and other stone – that showed good strength previously in 2022. Marble shipments fell off from August totals by nearly 21%, while other stone dropped by almost 30% … with Brazil, the leading U.S. supplier of other stone (mainly with quartzite), with a month-to-month slowdown of 48.4% in volume.

The Strange: Non-roofing slate, the smallest hard-surfaces sector, fully bucked the September stumble with good gains in both value and volume. Don’t credit longtime leader China with the good news, though; India forged ahead as the top source in September.

Next Month: September data is disturbing for two reasons. One, the slump in shipping is across the board and isn’t limited to one particular sector or country; two, it comes as shipping bottlenecks disappear and rates drop closer to normal levels. An October bounceback would be true-to-form for 2022’s crazy market, but the realities of the world economy may finally rein in the wild-horsey ride.oing faster. We’ll put the word slowdown on ice for a month or two, but keep it at the ready.