USGS report on cement in June 2016

USGS has released its mineral industry survey for cement in June 2016.

Total shipments of portland and blended cement in the United States and Puerto Rico in June 2016 were about 9.2 million t, up by 2.7% from sales in June 2015. The leading producing States for portland and blended cement in June were Texas, Missouri, California, Florida, and Michigan, in descending order and these accounted for nearly 40% of the national total. The leading cement consuming States (Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio, in descending order) received about 35.7% of the June shipments.

Sales for January through June totalled 43.8 million t, up by 7.4% from the volume in the same period in 2015. Clinker production totalled 6.9 million t in June 2016, down slightly from the output in June 2015. The leading clinker producing States in June were, in descending order, California, Missouri, Texas, Florida, and Alabama. Production for January through June totalled 36.3 Mt, up by 2.6% from the same period in 2015. Masonry cement shipments of about 231 000 t in June 2016 were up by 2.9% from those in June 2015.

The leading masonry-cement-consuming States were, in descending order, Florida, Texas, California, North Carolina, and Georgia; these received about 51% of June’s shipments. Shipments for January through June 2016 were 1.2 million t, up by 8.5% 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. June 2016 imports of cement and clinker of about 1.3 million t were 4.7% higher than in June 2015. Imports for January through June totalled 6.2 million t, up by about 25% from those of the same period in 2015. Year-to-date imports were overstated by apparent slag imports in April and May that were misreported by the importer under the clinker tariff code.

Adapted from press release by Rebecca Bowden

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/08092016/usgs-report-on-cement-in-june-2016-222/