Dallas, TX -- (SBWire) -- 09/23/2010 -- Summary Of Major Findings
The $6.8 billion U.S. stone product industry has increased at strong rates over the past decade. Demand has been driven by homeowner’s desire for more durable, high quality, and prestigious building materials. Declining average stone product prices has also stimulated demand. Declining average prices are a result of improved quarry and fabricator productivity and the availability of lower-cost foreign-sourced stone products. Supplies are increasingly coming from manufacturers located in Brazil, China, Turkey, and India. This has made stone flooring and countertops more competitive in their respective markets. In addition, sales have been driven by record new single-family home construction and existing home resales. The latter trend has given a boost to the residential remodeling market.

Stone Industry Trends
Catalina Research uncovered these trends in our 214-page report on the U.S. and Canadian stone industry. Report sections cover all aspects of this industry including mines and quarries, stone product processors and fabricators, importers, end-use markets, and installers. In the Executive Summary section, Catalina conducts a growth analysis of the U.S. supply of stone products and rough stone. Catalina also provides data on rough stone and stone product price trends.

Stone Industry Shipments And Imports
This in-depth analysis has separate sections on U.S. shipments of stone products, stone product imports, and U.S. shipments and imports of rough stone. Each section provides dollar and quantity shipments by type of stone and type of use. In addition, import data is segmented by major country of origin.

End-use Markets And Stone Installations
U.S. stone product industry market sales are segmented by end-use market and type of installation. End-use market sales are provided for residential and nonresidential markets. Sales are also broken out for stone countertops, flooring, other building products, and monuments. In addition, installer revenues were analyzed for interior and exterior stonework. An analysis of factors driving demand is provided as well. Data trends include spending on new residential and nonresidential building construction, total housing demand, housing starts and permits, average price and size of new homes, number of bathrooms per completed housing unit, homeowner remodeling spending, mortgage interest rates, and other economic and demographic trends. Export shipments are provided by product and by major country of destination. Catalina has provided data on the Canadian market in a separate section. This section includes data on the Canadian supply of rough stone, stone products, and imports and exports.

Industry Cost Structure And Profitability
Catalina analyzed the cost structure and profitability of U.S. stone quarries, processors, and fabricators. This analysis covers material inputs, the labor situation, and facility capital expenditures. Shipments of stone and related product working machinery are provided for U.S.- and foreign-based manufacturers.

CompetitIve Environment
Catalina evaluated the competitive environment covering the position of the 3,800 plus U.S. stone product processors, fabricators, and installers; the 169 U.S. companies operating stone quarries; and products sourced from foreign-based suppliers. Catalina also estimated the sales of leading U.S. suppliers. In addition, Ceramic Tile and Stone Consultants (CTaSC) surveyed the leading fabricators and largest importers to develop a snapshot of the top competitor characteristics, determine the products they imported, and review the customers and end-use markets they target. The leading distributors are reviewed as well.

Additional Information

Scope And Methodology
Catalina Research has conducted an in-depth analysis of the U.S. stone industry. The report covers all aspects of the industry including mines and quarries, stone product processors and fabricators, importers, and end-use markets and stonework installers. Data is for the U.S. and Canadian market and is generally derived from U.S. government and Statistics Canada sources. In addition, a separate section includes the results of a survey of major fabricators and leading importers conducted by Ceramic Tile and Stone Consultants (CTaSC).

The overall U.S. rough stone and stone product supply (shipments plus imports) is analyzed in the Executive Summary section (Section 1). Catalina compiled U.S. Department of Commerce shipments and imports to calculate the supply. The supply is calculated for dressed or worked (cut, shaped, or finished) stone and stone products and rough quarried stone. Shipment data are for all domestic quarries, processors, and fabricators, whether the quarry or fabricator is owned by a U.S.- or foreign-based company and whether or not quarries or fabricators specialize (50% or more of total facility revenues) in one or more of the industry’s sectors. All quantity data (shipments, imports, and exports) are in metric tons unless otherwise indicated. Price trends are compiled for rough stone and stone products from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index. Data in this and other sections includes engineered stone.

Section 2 analyzes shipments of dressed or worked stone and stone product processors and fabricators. Processors take large blocks of stone provided by quarries and mines and cut them into slabs, tiles, and perhaps other thicker shapes. Processors then polish or hone or provide a rough surface on one side of a slab, and polish or hone one side of the tiles and create a slight bevel on the tile to facilitate installation. Fabricators take the processed stone and make countertops and other products. Shipments are segmented by type of stone and by use. Products not specified by kind or use were allocated to each stone kind or use to get a more complete industry product mix. Uses include exterior and interior building stone, monument, and other uses. This section also analyzes the cost structure and profitability of companies specializing in stone product processing and fabricating. These companies specialize in cutting, shaping, and finishing dimension stone from stone that is mined, quarried, or purchased from domestic or foreign sources. In addition, this section provides shipments of precast concrete stone (also known as manufactured stone).

An analysis of foreign-sourced stone product shipments rounds out our investigation of the total U.S. supply (Section 3). Imports are derived from U.S. Customs records and provide data on foreign-sourced products by type of stone and country of origin. Import data primarily combines building, monument, and other use. In addition, data is segmented for roof and other slate, stone tiles and other related articles, and agglomerated marble-cement tiles. Costs to ship and insure foreign-sourced stone and tariff charges are also provided.

A similar analysis was conducted for rough stone. Section 4 includes shipments of U.S. quarries and foreign-sourced rough stone by type of stone. This section includes an analysis of the U.S. stone quarry cost structure and profitability. Data on world rough stone production and consumption by major country is also included.

Section 5 evaluates capital spending trends of U.S. stone product processors and fabricators and stone quarries. Spending is broken out for structures and machinery and equipment. This section also includes U.S. shipments and imports of stone and related product working machinery.

The competitive environment is evaluated in Section 6. Catalina Research estimated the sales of the top U.S.-based competitors and provided profiles of the leading U.S. suppliers. This report also includes a survey of the major U.S. fabricators and leading stone importers conducted by Ceramic Tile and Stone Consultants, LLC (CTaSC, Section 7). The survey covers general characteristics, products imported, customers, and end-use markets.

Section 8 analyzes stone industry end-use markets and stone installation work. End-use markets include new residential construction, residential remodeling, nonresidential markets, and the monument market. In addition, Catalina estimated the market for stone flooring and countertops. This section includes data on installation revenues. Section 9 analyzes the factors determining U.S. stone product demand. Commerce surveys include data on building construction spending, new housing starts and permits, average new home prices and size, number of bathrooms per new housing unit complete, homeowner remodeling spending, and other factors driving demand.

Export shipments by sector and stone type, as well as shipments by major countries of destination, are provided in Section 10. Section 11 provides data on the Canadian rough stone and stone product supply. Data trends include Canadian shipments, imports, and exports.

Action-oriented executives are urged to use this information to take advantage of the growing sales opportunities in this industry, including expanding end-use markets, uncovering profitable sources of supply, and strategies to improve operating efficiencies. Executives are urged to compute their own company’s market share and compare their company’s own operating ratios to the industry averages as part of this process.

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