US cement market stable in September

Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the USA remained stable YoY at around 8.75Mt in September 2017, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The five largest cement markets in the US were Texas, California, Florida, Ohio and Illinois (in descending order) and their demand accounted for around 36 per cent of domestic shipments.The leading producing states were Texas, Missouri, California, Michigan and Florida (in descending order), accounting for around 40 per cent of domestic sales.

Portland cement exports reached 56,216t in September 2017, down from 74,878t in September 2016.

Masonry cement sales fell by 7.4 per cent to 194,164t in September, of which 1859t were imported. The decline has been attributed to hurricane disruptions to construction sites in Florida and Texas, the two largest masonry cement-consuming states. Together with California, North Carolina and Tennessee, both states account for 45 per cent of September masonry cement shipments.

Clinker output totalled 6.61Mt, up from 6.53Mt in September 2016. The leading clinker-producing states were (in descending order) Missouri, Texas, California, Florida and Pennsylvania, who accounted for a 46 per cent share of total output.

Imports of cement and clinker into the US increased 6.4 per cent to 1.3Mt in September when compared with the year-ago period. This includes 1.12Mt of Portland and blended cements. Imports have been more erratic than in 2016 following a rise in 2016 and 1Q17 when a slow recovery of US production, a strong dollar, low ship chartering rates and bunker fuel costs combined to generate a higher demand for imported product.

Year-to-date shipments and output
In the January-September 2017 period, total shipments of Portland and blended cement reached 71.65Mt. Some 63.23Mt of cement originated in US plants and an additional 8.42Mt was imported.

Masonry cement shipments remained stable YoY at around 1.84Mt.

Clinker production reached 56.7Mt, similar to the volume reported for 9M16.

Cement and clinker imports in the first nine months of 2017 totalled 10.3Mt, virtually unchanged from the equivalent period in 2016.

US producers exported 467,424t of Portland cement in 9M17, a 12.5 per cent decline when compared with 534,460t exported in 9M16.