US April shipments climb 4.1% YoY

Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the USA and Puerto Rico in April 2015 rose by 4.1 per cent to around 7.7Mt, latest data from the USGS shows. Shipments for the year through April totalled 24.1Mt, up by 5.1 per cent from the same period in 2014.

The leading producing states for Portland and blended cement in April were Texas, California, Missouri, Florida and Alabama in descending order. The leading consuming states (Texas, California, Florida, Illinois and Ohio in descending order) received about 39 per cent of the April shipments.

Clinker production
Clinker production totalled 6.1Mt in April 2015, up by 6.4 per cent from the output in April 2014. Production for the year through April was up by 7.7 per cent for the same period of 2014. The leading clinker-produciing states in April were California, Texas, Missouri, Florida and Pennsylvania, in descending order, which accounted for about 46 per cent of April’s total.

Imports rise, limited to few custom districts
Imports for the year through April totalled 2.57Mt, up by almost 43 per cent from the same period of 2014. Much of the increase has been into relatively few customs districts, the USGS highlights:
• cement from Canada into Detroit and Buffalo
• cement from China into Columbia-Snake, Houston-Galveston, San Francisco and Seattle
• cement from Greece into Houston-Galveston and into New York City
• cement from Sweden into New York City
• cement from Turkey into Houston-Galveston.