US shipments rise 6% YoY

Shipments of Portland and blended cement in the US and Puerto Rico for the four months to the end of April 2014 reached 23.1Mt, up by about six per cent YoY, latest data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) shows.

Shipments in April were 7.4Mt, an increase of about 11 per cent from the level in the same month of the previous year. The leading consuming states (Texas, California, Florida, Ohio and Illinois, in descending order), received about 41 per cent of the April total shipments.

Production update
The leading Portland cement producing states in April were Texas, California, Missouri, Florida and Pennsylvania, in descending order, accounting for nearly 46 per cent of total output.

Clinker production, meanwhile, totalled 5.7Mt in April, up by nearly three per cent from April 2013. The leading clinker-producing states in April were California, Texas, Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania, in descending order, and these accounted for about 49 per cent of the total output for the month.
Clinker production for the year through to April 2014 totalled 20Mt,  up by about four per cent YoY.

Imports decline
Imports for the year through April totalled 1.8Mt, down by three per cent from the same period of 2013. April 2014 imports of cement and clinker of 545,000t were nearly 15 per cent lower than those in April 2013.