The imports of ceramics, marble and granite from Latin America and the Caribbean

2021/08/12

Latin American and Caribbean countries, despite their numbers, have maintained relatively low market shares (%) in imports of finished marble and granite for the last five years. Exceptions are imports of ceramics that remain stable at high levels.

In the Chart below we see the shares (%) of Latin American and Caribbean countries on the global value of imports between 2016 – 2020:

In the Table we observe that the shares (%) of the ceramics are almost twice as much as of the finished marbles and granites. We also see the large drop in the shares (%) of the finished marbles while in the finished granites we observe the stability over time.

In ceramic imports, there is a large dispersion in the shares (%) between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. However, the countries with the highest average shares in the value of imports are Mexico (14.7%), Chile (12.9%), Peru (8.76%), Colombia ( 8.67%) and the Dominican Republic (7.4%).

In the process of imports of finished marble, the average share of Mexico (40%) is by far the highest. They are followed by Brazil (9.96%), the Dominican Republic (8.83%), Panama (7.59%) and Argentina (6.7%).

The main suppliers of Latin American and Caribbean countries in ceramics are Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Spain. The main suppliers of finished marble products are Italy, China, Spain, Turkey, Greece. In the finished granite products are Brazil, China, India, Spain.

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected imports of ceramics, finished marble products and granite. Between 2019 – 2020, imports of finished marble products fell by -30.59%. Imports of ceramics fell -19.61% and of finished granites -18.39%.