US and Puerto Rico March shipments down slightly

Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the US and Puerto Rico in March 2017 were about 7.5Mt, slightly less than sales in March 2016, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported yesterday. The leading producing states were Texas, California, Missouri, Florida and Alabama, in descending order. The leading cement-consuming states received 46 per cent of the March shipments.

Shipments for the year through March were nearly 19Mt, slightly higher than in the same period of 2016,

Clinker production totalled 6.2Mt in March 2017, up by 3.1 per cent from the output in March 2016. The leading clinker-producing states in March were, in descending order, Texas, Missouri, California, Florida and Alabama. Clinker production for the year through March totalled 15.87Mt, down by 3.5 per cent YoY.

March 2017 imports of cement and clinker of about 961,000t were 9.8 per cent higher than those of March 2016. As listed, imports for the year through March totalled 2.45Mt, up by 14.7 per cent from those of the same period in 2016. However, within 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 noted.