US and Puerto Rican cement markets contract in February

Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the US and Puerto rico in February contracted by 3.6 per cent YoY to 5.8Mt, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The leading cement-consuming states – Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and Arizona – received about 50 per cent of total shipments.

The leading producing states were California, Texas, Florida, Missouri and Alabama (in descending order).

Masonry cement shipments declined by 6.5 per cent YoY to 169,000t in February 2018. Around 63 per cent of February volumes were delivered to the country’s leading cement-consuming states – Florida, Texas, California, North Carolina and Georgia.

Clinker output totalled 4.7Mt in the second month of 2018, representing a decrease of 4.8 per cent when compared with February 2017. The leading clinker-producing states were Texas, California, Missouri, Florida and Michigan, which together accounted for some 57 per cent of total clinker output in February.

The US imported some 0.7Mt of clinker and cement in February 2018, around 16 per cent below the year-ago volume.