Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the United States and Puerto Rico in March 2014 rose by nearly six per cent YoY to 6.1Mt, latest data from the USGS show.

Shipments for the year through to the end of March were 15.7Mt, up by about three per cent from the same period of last year. The leading Portland cement-producing states in March were Texas, California, Missouri, Florida and Alabama in descending order. The leading consuming states (Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and Louisiana, in descending order) received about 45 per cent of the total March shipments.

Clinker production totalled 5.7Mt in March, essentially unchanged from the output in March 2013. Production for the year through to the end of March totalled 14.3Mt, an increase of about four per cent.

The leading clinker-producing states in March were Texas, California, Missouri, Florida and Alabama, in descending order.

March 2014 imports of cement and clinker of 464,000t were about five per cent higher than those in March 2013. Imports for the year through March totalled 1.26Mt, up slightly from the same period of 2013.