US cement shipments reach 6.3Mt in December

Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the USA and Puerto Rico grew by 3.5 per cent YoY to 6.3Mt in December 2017, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The largest state markets in the country were Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and New York (in descending order), which accounted for 43 per cent of total US shipments.

The leading producing states for Portland and blended cement were California, Texas, Missouri, Florida and Alabama in descending order.

In the final month of 2017, US cement producers exported some 42,047t of Portland cement and 3000t of blended cement.

For the full-year dispatches increased by 2.4 per cent YoY to 95.5Mt. Portland cement exports reached 606,728t and blended cement exports 25,193t.

Masonry cement
Masonry cement shipments fell by 4.3 per cent YoY to around 162,000t. The states with the largest off-take (in descending order) were Florida, Texas, California, North Carolina and Tennessee and represented some 60 per cent of total dispatches.

For the full-year shipments remained stable at 2.41Mt.

Clinker production
Some 6.6Mt of clinker was produced in December 2017, a 20 per cent rise when compared with December 2016, when a 20 per cent YoY drop was recorded. The leading clinker production state was Texas, followed by California, Missouri, Florida and Alabama. 

Clinker output in the full year was 76.9Mt, representing a slight advance on 2016.