Portland and blended cement demand down 4% in USA-Puerto Rico

Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the USA and Puerto Rico decreased 4.2 per cent YoY to 8.4Mt in September, according to the latest data from the US Geological Survey (USGS). This includes about 1.5Mt of cement and clinker imports, up by 13.9 per cent YoY.

About 37 per cent of domestic consumption in September 2018 was delivered to Texas, California, Florida, Ohio and Illinois.  The leading Portland and blended cement-producing states in this period were Missouri, California, Texas, Florida and Michigan, which accounted a combined 42 per cent of the total.

Masonry cement shipments in September 2018 increased to 199,000t, up 2.4 per cent YoY. The leading masonry cement-consuming states were Florida, Texas, Georgia, California and Tennessee, accounting for 56 per cent of total demand.

Clinker production (excluding Puerto Rico) edged up by two per cent YoY to reach 6.8Mt. The leading clinker-producing states were California, Missouri, Texas, Florida and Alabama.

In the first nine months of 2018, US deliveries of Portland and blended cement totalled 73.8Mt, up 3.1 per cent YoY. Domestic output of 64.67Mt was supplemented by 9.14Mt of cement imports in 9M18. In addition, some 1.26Mt of clinker was imported, resulting in total cement and clinker imports of 11.5Mt, up 11.9 per cent when compared with the 9M17.

At 56.9Mt, clinker output in the 9M18 was slightly higher than in the year-ago period.