At a press conference held at the 2019 World of Concrete, Ed Sullivan, Executive Vice President and Chief Economist for the Portland Cement Association (PCA) detailed his predictions for 2019. These included the expectation to see moderate growth in 2019 for the overall US economy and cement consumption. Sullivan will release a forecast for the PCA’s Market Intelligence Group in spring.
“The US economy’s long growth should continue in 2019,” said Sullivan. “Since 2011, we have averaged two million jobs being created each year and the unemployment rate is below 4%. Despite the headlines, the impact in the near term of rising interest rates and inflation are relatively benign. Simply put, fundamentals like these take a long time to unwind.
“The projected cement consumption will slow modestly from 2018 in 2019. The gradual increases in interest rates, the ageing recovery, and accompanied trade issues may contribute to the slowdown in the cement market.”
Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/24012019/the-pca-announces-forecast-for-2019/