Replies

1. 
   DawterNature | Mar 01, 2008 10:57pm | #1

   Funnily enuff, or not so funny maybe, lots of stuff recently built and consumed in NE comes from elsewhere, sorta like the Idaho spuds at local grocers.

   Seems forever I've sat on solid granite rocks on Maine's shore, loving the look and feel and glistening garnet when sun hits.

   Am personal cook. Fascinating to find out the granite ordered for kitchen redo on coastal Maine was imported from middle east. Garnet chunks are larger, cost far exceeds local, but it's so, so chic to afford the freight. Hey, I wasn't asked my opinion.

   Gotta laff, that's all I can say.

   And whenever possible, I appreciate the abundance of that which is readily available. And use it in my "real" existence, if you know what I mean.

1. 
   basswood | Mar 02, 2008 02:50am | #2

   I didn't listen to the NPR clip, but lotsa stone coming from India, China, Brazil, etc. We still have some of the largest granite quarries in the world, here in MN.http://www.coldspringgranite.com/gc_commercial.html

2. 
   TomC | Mar 02, 2008 05:09am | #3

   This is what I understand from the local stone guys. No matter the origin of the stone, the fabrication is pretty well done in either India or China.

   For example, we have Cambrian Black from Quebec. The blocks are shipped to China, cut into slabs and polished, shipped back to Canada for kitchen counters. Same deal for even the most exotic marbles from Italy. And of course India and China quarry their own stone as well.

   The logical question is would the freight cost a lot? Yes, but it's still cheaper that way.

3. 
   susiekitchen | Mar 02, 2008 10:55pm | #4

   Used to live in southeastern Alabama, home of the whitest marble in the US. Because there's not much market for it, now it gets crunched up into dust for gyp board. Seems a shame...but it's a stone without much character, so I guess it went out of style and was replaced by other materials for cladding buildings.

   The thing is, granite is all over the world and of course it's distinct to its own area. You want mahogany blue eyes, you get it from the country where it's found. The reason stone suppliers go outside the US is that people want colors and types not found here. Right now the hot trend in this area is African stone...some of the dealers actually try to get exclusives on some of it.

   I keep wondering when we're going to start exhausting veins of this stuff! I love all of the stones, but can't afford any of them.

1. 
   Matt | Mar 03, 2008 03:22pm | #5

   I know that a dozen or so years ago there were like 1/3rd the number of color choices available...  Or I guess the key term would be locally available...

   It just seems wrong though for raw materials to be shipped way overseas to be made into finished products and then be shipped back here.

   Maybe it will go the way of the auto industry where I guess factories are so highly mechanized that Toyota, for example, manufactures autos in the US.Doesn't help the people who loose their jobs though...  I guess they just have to "retool".

1. 
   susiekitchen | Mar 03, 2008 08:19pm | #6

   I couldn't get to the full report from NPR, so I didn't realize that materials like stone were being shipped overseas for finishing. That's just weird, but I understand it's happening with lots of our raw materials - which cuts us out of the profitable part. 

    You know, a dozen years ago I was still selling laminate for countertops, granite was for the ultra-rich. 'Course, everyone seems to have a lot of money to throw around these days on houses they apparently can't afford.

4. 
   drystone | Mar 04, 2008 12:50am | #7

   I saw this a while back, an article about gravestone manufacturers in New England who were losing business to the Chinese.  It then ocurred to me that we might see the extreme irony of Korean War vets laid to rest under Chinese-made tombstones.  Would this be allowed to happen? 

1. 
   reinvent | Mar 04, 2008 01:48am | #8

   We already have american flags made by the chinese