Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the US and Puerto Rico in August 2013 rose five per cent YoY to 8.6Mt, data from the US Geological Survey shows.

Shipments for the year through to August were also up slightly to 53.7Mt. The leading Portland cement-producing states, during August were Missouri, Texas, California, Michigan and Florida, in descending order, which accounted for about 43 per cent of total shipments for the month. The leading consuming states (Texas, California, Florida, Illinois and Ohio, in descending order) received about 36 per cent of the August total shipments.

Clinker production totalled about 6.6Mt in August, up by about 13 per cent from August 2012. Production for the first eight months of 2013 was ahead by nearly three per cent to 45.2Mt. The leading clinker-producing states in August were California, Texas, Missouri, Florida and Pennsylvania, in descending order, and these accounted for 47 per cent of the total August output.

August 2013 imports of cement and clinker were 833,000t, almost 32 per cent higher than those in August 2012. Imports for the year through to August totaled 4.75Mt, up by about four per cent YoY.