The natural stone market in the USA has grown strongly in the past years, with consumption more than trebling between 1994 and 2003. The USA is meanwhile the world’s second most important natural stone consumer after China in absolute figures.

The quantity of imports to the USA in 2003 rose by 39.2 % for granite and granite products and 20.3 % for marble. Expressed in US dollars, however, the rise was only 28.9 and 11.7 % respectively. The average import price for both marble and granite dropped by more than a tenth. This is attributed to that fact that cheaper stones are now also being increasingly imported into the United States from Third World countries. Although this is mainly at the expense of Italy, the traditional supplier country, Spain, Portugal, Greece and other European countries are also adversely affected by this development.

The local production of natural stone has increased strongly in the USA, especially in the last three years. Whereas only 1.20 million tons of rough slabs were quarried ten years ago, this figure reached 2.25 million tons in 2003, almost twice as much.

As a result of increasing imports for block goods as well (1994: 94,000 t, 2003: 441,000 t), the quantity processed in the USA itself has also risen markedly, namely from 1.1 million tons to 2.5 million tons. Around 30 % of all today’s natural stone finished goods in the USA are created in its own production plants.

Exports show a definite decline in the past years, especially if the higher figures from the second half of the 1990’s are used for comparison. Mainly raw material is exported (2003: 441,000 t) and the export of finished goods (2003: 73,000 t) plays a comparatively minor role.

The chances for medium- to long-term growth of the US natural stone market are still good, as per head consumption is still appreciably below that of most European countries. So potential exists. The weak dollar that has persisted for a long time does, however, raise the price of imports, especially from the euro region, which could lead to a temporary downturn in consumption.