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A Taylor, Jr
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DIMENSION STONE ADVOCATE NEWS
Issue No. 3 March - April 2001
Outlook for dimension stone, 2001: At this time, the U.S. economy still appears to be weakening, with the California energy shortage putting on additional downwards pressure. Since construction lags behind the economy (rule of thumb), any effect on dimension stone sales may take a while to show up. Somewhat more complete information still suggests the year 2000 was hot in U.S. dimension stone markets, even by world standards; but latter year data now partly available suggests the U.S. marble market weakened in sales later in 2000. Italian sources say that dimension stone prices are falling on the average in major markets (Europe, North America, Far East), with several significant exceptions. Current world dimension stone sales total above $20 billion. The next issue will begin looking at the conditions actually being discovered in 2001 by strategically placed market participants and observers.
USGS preliminary statistics for 2000 are as follows; U.S. production totalled $243 million, compared with $255 million in 1999. The more complete survey the USGS takes later will probably show a U.S. production around $270 million. U.S. imports totalled $1,060 million in 2000, compared to $808 in 1999, and exports were $71 million in 2000, compared to $55 million in 1999. The import sources considered over the four years 1996-99 were Italy 38%, Canada 9%, Spain 9%, India 6%, and the balance (all others) 38%.
Continuing, the U.S. imports for 2000 can be divided by kinds of stone: granite imports in 2000 were $415 million compared to $317 million in 1999, marble imports were $264 million compared to $361 million in 1999, and all other kinds were $155 million compared to $130 million in 1999; the 2000 total is $834 million. The total imports of $834 million in 2000 is less than the USGS total above and less than the total estimated in the last issue; the differences result from the use of the smaller fraction of the year 2000 data then available when estimating and is mostly a reflection of a later year 2000 severe drop in marble imports.
ASTM has a Guide for Stone Selection for Exterior Use underway that will cover exterior applications (cladding, coping, pavements, steps), common stone types (granite, marble, limestone, slate), costing, finishes, character of the proposed application environment (windloading, traffic load, weathering), stone testing, and the selection process.