Volume & Price Trends - US Cement Industry
Industry trends
The US cement industry generates $14 billion of revenue measured as the mill net price. The industry continues a slow but steady recovery from the downturn resulting from the general economic crisis in 2008.
Between 2011 and 2021, shipments grew at a cumulative average growth rate of 4.1% per year from 80.9 million tons in 2011 to 120.7 million tons in 2021.
The chart above has been updated based on the annual mineral commodity summary published by the US Geological Survey as updated in March 2022.
This updated 2021 report includes minor revisions to data reported for the the prior years.
Insights
The full year volumes in 2021 remained well below the previous peak for annual shipments of 2005. Annual shipments of 120.7 million tons in 2021 were 22 million tons, or 16%, below that prior peak year.
U.S. production capacity does not support this level of cement consumption so the U.S. imports one fifth of its cement requirements.
Current cement import information is detailed in a separate section below.
US Cement Consumption by State
Nine States account for >50% of US Cement Consumption
Shipments of cement totaled 121 million U.S. short tons (110 million metric tons) in 2021, up by 4.3% over the prior calendar year. The top nine cement consuming states - Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and New York accounted for 51% of U.S. consumption in 2021.
Texas was the leading destination of US cement shipments in 2021 counting for 15% of US cement consumption.
Insights
Three states states dominated cement consumption in both 2021 and 2020:
- Texas
- California
- Florida
These three states were the destination of one third of U.S. cement shipments in both calendar years.
US Cement Shipment and Import Trends
Imports of cement increased as proportion of supply due to constraints of US production capacity
The U.S. cement industry is operating near its manufacturing capacity. Additional volume demands require increased imports of cement. US cement production capacity has been relatively stagnant over the past decade. Additional investments in modernization for efficiency and increased production volume at some locations were largely offset by capacity eliminated.
Economic decisions related to the additional investment otherwise required to bring individual older plants up to the stringent emissions limits of the 2010 National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants regulations, or market conditions in specific geographies, led to these offsetting capacity eliminations
In 2021 net imports accounted for 18% of US cement shipments.
Insights
Imports now supply nearly 1/5 of U.S. cement consumption. Imports as a percentage of shipments peaked at 26% of shipments in 2006 and fell to 7% of US shipments by 2011.
The US Geological Survey reported that imports of cement and clinker increased by 25% in 2021 over the prior year in its annual commodity survey published in January 2021. Net cement and clinker imports of 22 million short tons accounted for 18% of 2021 shipments.