US first-quarter shipments seen surpassing 15.5Mt mark

Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the United States and Puerto Rico of Portland and blended cement in the first quarter of 2014 reached 15.664Mt, preliminary data from the US Geological Survey shows.

Imports for the three months to the end of March accounted for 1.168Mt of the total.

Total dispatches in March alone stood at 6.106Mt, of which 434,484t were imported.

Clinker production for the first three months of the year reached 14.3Mt and output during March 2014 totalled 6.68Mt.

The full USGS monthly report is expected to be published in two weeks time.?