The US Central Plains area is a key US cement market with demand following a slow but steady course, much like the Mississippi River that flows through it. However, recent years have seen dramatic shifts in the ownership of several cement producers and the modernisation of the industry. By Rob Roy, ROI Economic Consulting, USA.

A dominant feature of the US Central Plains area is the Mississippi River. Fondly nicknamed the ‘Big Muddy’, its major tributaries include the rivers Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Arkansas and Red as well as the Tennessee, Wabash, Alleghany and hundreds of other connected rivers and canals (see Figure 1).

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