US January shipments - preliminary data

Preliminary data from the US Geological Survey shows that Portland and blended cement shipments in January 2016 amounted to 5.3Mt, including 540,000t of imports. This represents a fall of 1.6 per cent on January 2015 but is well above the five-year average of 4.6Mta for January shipments in the period 2011-15.

The USGS also puts preliminary estimates of clinker production for January at 5.22Mt, down 3.4 per cent on January 2015 levels.

Figures for all of 2015 have also been released. These show that Portland and blended cement shipments were 91.5Mt for the year, including 9.6Mt of imports (up from 88.4Mt and 7.4Mt, respectively in 2014).

Clinker production was 76.5Mt in 2015, up slightly on the 75Mt produced in 2014.