USITC Staff Report: Quartz Surfaces from India and Turkey staff report USITC | Page 34

U.S. demand
Based on available information, the overall demand for quartz surface products is likely
to experience moderate changes in response to changes in price. The main contributing factors
are the availability of substitute products and the large cost share of quartz surface products in
most of its end-use products.
U.S. demand for quartz surface products is driven by remodeling and construction. From
2017 to 2019, remodeling activity fluctuated while construction activity increased. As shown in
figure II-1, the remodeling market index (“RMI”) fluctuated during 2017-19, decreasing overall
by 0.6 percent from the first quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2019. The RMI fluctuated
in 2017, beginning at 58 in the first quarter and increasing slightly to 60 in the fourth quarter. In
2018, the RMI fluctuated, beginning and ending at 57. The RMI declined to 54 in the first
quarter of 2019, then increased to reach 58 in the fourth quarter of 2019.
As shown in figure II-2, monthly new privately-owned housing starts increased by 31.1
percent overall from 1.21 million in January 2017 to 1.60 million in December 2019. New
housing starts fluctuated slightly over this period, decreasing to 1.1 million new housing units in
December 2018. Over 2019, new housing starts rose by 23.9 percent, with slight fluctuations,
from 1.3 million in January 2019 to 1.6 million in 2019.
II-8