WSC cement set for growth?
The cement markets of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas – collectively known as West South Central (WSC) – recovered in 2022 after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the region saw a surge in imports while lower-carbon blended cement gained traction in a market becoming increasingly aware of the impacts of global climate change. By Rob Roy, ROI Economic Consulting, USA.
The cement markets of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas – or West South Central – recovered in 2022,
but the region also saw a surge in imports (The cement markets of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas –
or West South Central – recovered in 2022 but the region also saw a surge in imports (© CRH)
Figure 1: WSC cement consumption by state share, 2022
The West South Central (WSC) Region is dominated by Texas, which accounted for 75.7 per cent of cement consumption in 2022 (see Figure 1). Texas used 16.8Mt of Portland and masonry cement compared to 2.6Mt for Louisiana, 1.8Mt for Oklahoma and 1Mt for Arkansas (see Table 1). Texas is also the top cement consumer in the USA, accounting for 15 per cent of domestic Portland and masonry cement demand in 2022. It beat second-ranked California by 6.4Mt, or 60 per cent in 2022. The Lone Star State has continually outperformed California since 2006 after trailing the Golden State for all but nine years of the previous 92 years.
Oklahoma ranked 23rd among all states, Louisiana 25th and Arkansas 34th. These three states will be referred to as ‘WSCxTX’ (ie, West South Central excluding Texas). If WSCxTX were a state, its cement consumption would rank fourth between Florida and Georgia.
