USGS Cement in May 2016

USGS has released its Mineral Industry Survey for Cement in May 2016.

States and Puerto Rico in May 2016 were about 8.2 million t, up by 5.1% from sales in May 2015. The leading producing States for portland and blended cement in May were California, Texas, Missouri, Florida, and Michigan, in descending order, and these accounted for nearly 40% of the national total. The leading cement consuming States (Texas, California, Florida, Ohio, and Illinois, in descending order) received about 37% of the May shipments.

Sales for January through May totaled 34.7 million t, up by 8.7% from the volume in the same period in 2015. Clinker production totaled about 7.0 million t in May 2016, up by 3.8% from the output in May 2015 (table 4). The leading clinker-producing States in May were, in descending order, Texas, California, Florida, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, and these accounted for almost 46% of the U.S. total. Production for January through May totaled 29.3 million t, up by 3.7% from the same period in 2015. Masonry cement shipments of about 205 000 t in May 2016 declined slightly from those of May 2015. The leading masonry-cement-consuming States were, in descending order, Florida, Texas, California, North Carolina, and Georgia; these received about 51% of May’s shipments.

Shipments for January through May 2016 were 988,000 t, up by 9.9% from shipments in the same period in 2015. For some time, imports have been increasing at rates generally higher than for cement sales levels overall. In part this reflects the collapse of imports during the recession (hence a low basis), but also a relatively low cost of imports resulting from a combination of low bunker fuel costs, modest ship chartering rates, increased ship availability, and a strong dollar. In some regions, imports are offsetting domestic production constraints related to difficulties in bringing long idle extra kilns back online. Also, clinker imports have increased, likely temporarily, ahead of expected disruptions to kiln output at certain plants that are undergoing upgrades. May 2016 imports of cement and clinker of about 1.4 million t were about 18% higher than in May 2015 but include about 61 000 t of ‘clinker’ into Philadelphia that, based on low unit value, appears to be granulated blast furnace slag. Imports for January through May totaled nearly 5.0 million t, up by about 32% from those of the same period in 2015; the total for 2016 includes the apparent imports of slag in May noted above and also almost 59 000 t of apparent slag into Philadelphia in April.

Adapted from press release by Rebecca Bowden

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/04082016/usgs-cement-in-may-2016-45/