US and Puerto Rico cement shipments up 6% in January

Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the US and Puerto Rico increased 5.7 per cent YoY to 5.752Mt in January 2018, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The top five cement markets were Texas, California, Florida, Arizona and Georgia (in descending order), which accounted for around 51 per cent of total shipments.

Total cement deliveries by US producers reached 5.165Mt, up six per cent YoY. The leading producing states were Texas, California, Florida, Missouri and Alabama (in descending order). US cement companies also exported 23,000t of Portland and blended cement – a third less than the previous-year period. 
Masonry cement shipments fell 5.6 per cent YoY to 168,009t in January 2018 with the largest markets (Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and North Carolina - in descending order) accounting for a combined share of 65 per cent of deliveries). Deliveries by domestic producers stood at 166,962t while 1047t of imports supported a small domestic supply shortage.

Clinker production in the first month of 2018 totalled 4.763Mt, up by 3.9 per cent when compared with January 2017.

Domestic production of hydraulic cement and clinker (including white cement) was supplemented by 792,366t of cement and clinker imports, representing a 13 per cent increase in terms of volume on January 2017 imports. Total CIF value of the imports reached US$73,286,970. Canada was the largest foreign supplier with a total volume of 207,106t (value: US$20,825,689), followed by Greece with 168,460t at a value of US$9,045,012) and Turkey (84,617t with a value of US$6,588,318).