Like all US states, Florida has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with tourist numbers plummeting as borders shut and lockdown measures were imposed. But pent-up demand in the housing market, strong infrastructure spending and a robust construction sector should deliver a notable uptick in cement consumption in 2021-23.
Florida’s US$1trn economy is the fourth-largest in the USA and would be the 16th-largest in the world if it were a country. Not surprisingly it is a key market when it comes to the cement industry, regularly in the top five in the US in terms of cement and clinker production and consumption. It is currently home to nine cement plants with a total cement and clinker capacity of 12.215Mta and 8.754Mta, respectively (see Figure 1). Florida also boasts 18 cement terminals, including two for slag, plus one additional terminal for white cement. Cement consumption in 2019 came in at 7.4Mt, up from 7.1Mt in the previous year, while the industry contributes over US$12.5bn to annual state revenue.
