US and Puerto Rico February shipments unchanged

Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the US and Puerto Rico in February 2017 were about 6Mt, essentially unchanged from sales in February 2016, latest data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) shows.

The leading producing states in February 2017 were Texas, California, Missouri, Florida and Alabama, in descending order. The leading consuming states (Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, in descending order) received 46 per cent of the February shipments. Shipments for the year through February were nearly 11.5Mt, slightly higher than for the same period of 2016.

Clinker production totalled 4.7Mt in February 2017, down by 7.6 per cent from the output in February 2016. The leading clinker-producing states in February were, in descending order, Texas, California, Missouri, Florida and Alabama. Clinker production for the year through February totalled 9.1Mt, down by 11.7 per cent from that of the same period in 2016.

February 2017 imports of cement and clinker of about 813,000t were 23.9 per cent higher than those in February 2016. Imports for the year through February totalled 1.5Mt, up by 20.3 per cent from those of the same period in 2016. However, with the 2017 total, the January imports were understated by nearly 28,000t of grey Portland cement imported into the San Francisco Customs district under a tariff code for another commodity, the USGS notes.