USGS has released its Mineral Industries Survey, reporting on cement shipments during July 2017. Total shipments of portland and blended cement in the United States and Puerto Rico in July 2017 were about 8.5 million t, up by 3.4% from shipments in July 2016. The leading producing States for portland and blended cement in July 2017 were Texas, Missouri, California, Florida, and Michigan, in descending order, and these accounted for 42% of the month s total sales. The leading cement-consuming States (Texas, California, Florida, Ohio, and New York, in descending order) received about 38% of the July shipments. Shipments for the year through July were 53.2 million t, up by 2.0% from those during the same period in 2016. Masonry cement shipments of about 202 000 t in July 2017 were essentially unchanged from those in July 2016. The leading masonry-cement-consuming States were, in descending order, Florida, Texas, California, North Carolina, and Georgia; these States received 54% of the July shipments. Masonry cement shipments for the year through July were 1.42 million t, up slightly from those of the same period in 2016. Clinker production totalled 7.2 million t in July 2017, up by 4.6% from the output in July 2016 (table 4). The leading clinker producing States in July were, in descending order, Texas, California, Missouri, Florida, and Pennsylvania, and these States accounted for 48% of the month s total production. Clinker production for the year through July totalled 43.0 million t, significantly unchanged from that of the same period in 2016. Data for clinker imports into the Seattle, WA, and the Detroit, MI, customs districts do not include material trucked in from Canada on an informal entry basis. Likewise, imports of cement into the El Paso, TX, district are missing significant informal entries from Mexico. For some time, imports have been increasing at rates generally higher than those for cement sales overall. In part, this reflects the collapse of imports during the recession (hence a low basis for comparison), but also the 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 offset domestic production constraints related to difficulties in bringing long-idle extra kilns back online. Also, clinker imports had increased temporarily to maintain cement output at certain plants that were undergoing kiln line upgrades. With the recent completion of one such major project, clinker imports have returned to more normal levels. July 2017 imports of cement and clinker of about 1.4 million t were almost 5% lower than those in July 2016. Imports for the year through July totalled 7.7 million t, essentially unchanged from those of the same period in 2016. The 2017 total is understated by January imports of nearly 28 000 t of gray portland cement imported into the San Francisco Customs district under a tariff code for another commodity. /Source: World Cement