Displaying items by tag: US

US: Shipments of Portland and blended cement, including imports, fell by 7.5% year-on-year to 8.91Mt in May 2025, according to the latest figures from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Shipments for January to May 2025 totalled 37.9Mt, down by 6% from the same period in 2024. Texas, Missouri, California, Florida and Michigan accounted for 39% of production, while Texas, California, Florida, Ohio and Illinois received 40% of shipments.

Clinker production was 6.38Mt in May 2025 , compared with 6.46Mt in May 2024. For January to May 2025, clinker output dropped by 10% to 24.5Mt. Imports for the period declined by 5% year-on-year to 9.81Mt.

The second quarter of 2025 saw Russian GDP growth slow to 1.1% year-on-year, with a revised full-year growth forecast of 0.9%.¹ An economy bulked up on injections of military spending (budgeted at 33% of GDP in 2025)² since the invasion of Ukraine may slowly be keeling over. Faced with this eventuality, the Russian cement industry will likely be reviewing strategies not to be dragged down with the rest of the economy.

Prior to the release of the latest economic data, Russian construction had been forecast to grow at a CAGR of 2.5% in 2026 – 2029. Drivers included anticipated investments in oil and gas, transport, airports and renewable energy.

Purely in cement terms, the data no longer appear to corroborate this outlook. Market leader Cemros expects total domestic demand to drop from 67Mt in 2024, by 10 – 15% year-on-year, to 57 – 60.3Mt in 2025. In the first half of the year, Russia consumed 28.4Mt of cement, just 4% above production volumes of 27.2Mt in the same period. Cemros cited ‘declining cement consumption’ to account for its upcoming instigation of a four-day working week at its plants across Russia from October 2025.

On 12 August 2025, Cemros spoke out about a threat to the interests of the domestic industry: increased imports from Belarus. It said that Belarus’ three-plant industry is supplying Russia with cement at a rate equivalent to the combined production volumes of two-to-three cement plants. Time to cap them, it told the government, suggesting a ceiling of 1.5Mt/yr.
The producer may have received a shock on 18 August 2025, when Belarus-based Krasnoselskstroymaterialy announced an upcoming US$100m upgrade to its 700,000t/yr Vaŭkavysk cement plant in Grobno Oblast, Belarus.

By that time, the Russian cement association, Soyuzcement, had already called for an anti-dumping investigation into all cement imports. It expects that import volumes of 3.74Mt in 2024 may rise to 5Mt/yr ‘in the near-term future.’

Lingering behind these discussions is the fact of high operating costs, partly precipitated by Russia’s continuing burden of international sanctions.

Here, the cement sector’s hopes are riding on a very particular marketing campaign: that of President Vladimir Putin on the global diplomatic circuit. He must sell his war (or peace on his terms) in a way that fends off increased international sanctions or support for Ukraine. Existing sanctions were on show at the Alaska Summit in Anchorage, US, on 15 August 2025, where the Russian leader made his pitch to US President Donald Trump – including a request for de-sanctioning, alongside various proposed punishment measures against Ukraine. Before travelling back to Moscow, the Russian delegation reportedly had to offer to pay cash for aeroplane fuel.³

Though President Trump did not secure a ceasefire, he nonetheless held back from making good on threatened new sanctions, and rated the Alaska Summit ‘10/10.’⁴ Putin might be equally pleased with the inconclusive outcome as precisely the goal of all his obfuscations. For Russia’s cement producers, costs won’t suddenly rise, but nor will they come down any time soon.

Far from sitting idly by, the industry is seeking new ways to actualise the value of its product. On 20 August 2025, Soyuzcement hosted a meeting of nine producers and four retail chains to strategise ways to increase sales of bagged cement. It will be subject to mandatory digital labelling from 1 October 2025. Discussions included the possibility of batch labelling of bags on the pallet for ease of scanning at retail outlets.

For now, producers’ online media spaces give the impression of work continuing as usual. On 18 August 2025, Cemros announced a US$186,000 renovation of buildings at its Mikhailovsk building materials plant in Volgograd Oblast.

The cement business in Russia is big, established and diffuse. Transformation has been its defining feature in the 33 years since the fall of the USSR, including in the relatively stable latter decades of that period. Should macroeconomic or geopolitical events overtake it once again, we can expect some shapeshifting – but also survival.

References

1. Reuters, ‘Russia's GDP growth slows to 1.1% in Q2, says Rosstat,’ 13 August 2025, www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russias-gdp-growth-slows-11-q2-says-rosstat-2025-08-13/

2. Global Data, ‘Russia Construction Market Size,’ 30 June 2025, www.globaldata.com/store/report/russia-construction-market-analysis/

3. Spiegel, ‘Russen boten Rubio zufolge Barzahlung für Betankung ihrer Flugzeuge an,’ 18 August 2025, www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/trump-putin-gipfel-russen-boten-offensichtlich-barzahlung-fuer-betankung-ihrer-flugzeuge-an-a-fdd9303c-546a-43aa-89dd-4f746b8e9df3

4. Focus, ‘Jäger deutlich: "Putin verkauft Trump eine Illusion - und hat ihn jetzt in der Hand",’ 16 August 2025, www.focus.de/politik/ausland/jaeger-putin-braucht-trump-nicht-zu-fuerchten-er-hat-trump-jetzt-in-der-hand_67785013-a14b-485c-9a4a-51755ec483fa.html

Mexico: Cement consumption fell by 8 – 10% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period of 2024, according to José María Barroso Martínez, CEO of Cementos Moctezuma. He attributed the drop to factors such as the change of government in Mexico, the US government's tariff policy, a decrease in small-scale private works and on-going negotiations towards a replacement for the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA) for North American free trade, among other factors.

In an interview with Grupo Reforma News, Martínez said “Cement is the first variable that moves when the economy accelerates or decelerates. In the second half of 2025 we can achieve additional volumes to correct the trend and close the year similar 2024, when the industry reached close to 42Mt sold."

US: Hollingshead Cement, a division of SRM Concrete, has opened a cement terminal in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on the same site as an SRM Concrete ready-mix plant and block production facility. The terminal will receive cement by rail and can store over 50,000t.

SRM Concrete CEO Jeff Hollingshead said “We are excited to begin distributing cement from our new facility in Chattanooga. With this investment, we are better positioned to ensure a consistent and reliable supply of cement across our entire network of ready-mix and block locations, while also serving our cement customers with greater efficiency.”

The facility is the eleventh in Hollingshead Cement’s US terminal network, which supplies bulk cement for multiple construction applications.

Ecocem announced this week that it has achieved certification in the US for its ACT low-carbon cement technology. This follows CRH’s agreement to buy US-based Eco Material Technologies, a supplier of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM), which was revealed in late July 2025. These moves and others mark a flurry of activity by various companies in the US SCM sector in recent months.

Donal O’Riain, the founder and managing director of Ireland-based Ecocem, underlined the importance of certification in North America when he said that “The US is one of the largest cement markets in the world, and this certification will support integration into existing supply chains and offers a pathway for the sector to rapidly decarbonise.” The country imported just under a fifth, 19Mt, of its Portland and blended cement in 2024 according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Ecocem started out as a manufacturer of cements made using ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), a SCM, in the early 2000s. Its ACT technology was formally announced in 2022. It is described as a process that can make cements using “available fillers like limestone and local SCMs.” It is currently scheduled for a commercial launch in 2026, starting in France. In the US it is planning to build a terminal and mill at the Port of Los Angeles in California. This follows a previous attempt to build a slag grinding plant, also in California, in the 2010s.

CRH, another cement company with strong links to Ireland incidentally, said on 29 July 2025 that it had agreed to acquire Eco Material for US$2.1bn. The latter operates a network of fly ash, pozzolan, synthetic gypsum and green cement operations. It partners with electricity generators to process about 7Mt/yr of fly ash and 3Mt/yr of synthetic gypsum and other materials. As CRH’s CEO Jim Mintern put it, “this transaction secures the long-term supply of critical materials for future growth and puts CRH at the forefront of the transition to next generation cement and concrete.” The deal is expected to close by the end of 2025. In separate comments to analysts Mintern added that he expects the market for SCMs to double in the US by 2050.

Other players have also been busy in recent months. Amrize, for example, noted in its financial results for the second quarter of 2025 that it had broken ground on a new fly ash beneficiation facility in Virginia in the reporting period. Last week, Graymont and Fortera signed an agreement to produce Fortera’s ReAct low-carbon cement product by using Graymont’s existing lime production operations. Fortera runs a plant in Redding, California that takes captured CO₂ from the adjacent CalPortland cement plant and uses it to manufacture its own proprietary SCM. Back in April 2025 Buzzi Unicem said that it had partnered with Queens Carbon to produce a novel cement and SCM. The start-up was intending to build a 2000t/yr demonstration plant at Buzzi Unicem’s cement plant in Stockertown, Pennsylvania.

The backdrop to all of this attention on SCMs in the US are the cost of cement and sustainability. Using more SCMs reduces clinker usage in cement and it can reduce the cost. At the same time reducing the amount of clinker used decreases the amount of CO₂ emissions. So, for example, Ecocem says that its ACT technology can reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 70% compared to conventional cement.

A report by Mckinsey on SCMs in the autumn of 2024 reckoned that growth in the cement market in North America was expected to be ‘robust’ in the next 15 years to 2050. However, the sector faces material, particularly clinker, and labour shortages. Enter SCMs! It went on to assert that much of the available stocks of GGBS and fly ash in the country are effectively used. Yet, traditional industrial SCMs such as GGBS, fly ash and limestone are anticipated to be available for longer than in Europe as industries such as steel manufacture and electricity generation will take longer to decarbonise. Hence companies such as Ecocem are preparing to import them, ones like CRH are cornering existing stocks and others such as Fortera and Queens Carbon are working on creating their own ‘virgin’ sources. At the same time the American Cement Association has been promoting the use of Portland Limestone Cement in the country.

All this helps to explain the interest in SCMs in the US right now. It’s a busy moment.

US: Ecocem has obtained ASTM C1157 certification for its ACT low-CO₂ cement technology, confirming it meets or exceeds strength and durability benchmarks while reducing emissions and energy use. Unlike traditional cement specifications, the standard is performance-based, allowing for innovative formulations.

Founder and group managing director Donal O’Riain said “This is a significant moment for Ecocem and for low-carbon cement globally. Over the past 10 years our solutions have seen significant traction across Europe. The US is one of the largest cement markets in the world, and this certification will support integration into existing supply chains and offers a pathway for the sector to rapidly decarbonise through improved efficiency and without increasing costs or complexity.”

Ecocem is advancing its first North American project, a proposed terminal and milling operation at the Port of Los Angeles, aimed at establishing a reliable low-CO₂ cement supply chain in California. The company says that its low-carbon cement technology, ACT, cuts clinker content by up to 70% by using limestone and locally-sourced supplementary cementitious materials. The announcement follows recent regulatory approvals in France, new investment in production lines in Dunkirk, and partnerships with Bouygues, Vinci and Titan Group.

US: Supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) producer Eco Material Technologies has published its 2024 Sustainability Report, detailing the measures it has employed to reduce its environmental impact over the year. The producer said that its SCM displaced 5% of US cement consumption, avoiding 5.5Mt of CO₂ emissions. The company diverted 6.2Mt of ash from landfill and harvested a further 0.5Mt, reducing water use by 7.57bn litres compared to conventional materials. It produced 73,292t of ‘green’ cement, avoiding over 65,000t of CO₂, and aims to double recycled material use to 20Mt by 2030.

Chief executive officer Grant Quasha said “We're proving that domestic fly ash is not only a powerful climate solution, but also a resilient and scalable one. The infrastructure transformation is already underway, and we're proud to be leading it.”

Eco Material Technologies operates 125 sites in 42 states and employs 1100 people.

US/Canada: Martin Marietta Materials signed a definitive agreement with Quikrete Holdings to exchange its Midlothian cement plant, related terminals and North Texas ready-mixed concrete assets for aggregates operations with a capacity of 20Mt/yr in Virginia, Missouri, Kansas and Vancouver, and US$450m in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

Chair and CEO of Martin Marietta Ward Nye said “Following a thorough evaluation, we believe that exchanging our remaining cement plant and related ready-mixed concrete operations for core aggregates assets and pursuing accretive bolt-on acquisitions best positions the company for long-term earnings growth.”

US: Amazon and Brimstone have announced successful third-party test results for Brimstone’s lower-CO₂ ordinary Portland cement (OPC), which meets ASTM C150 requirements using Amazon slab mix designs. The companies will continue testing through 2025 and 2026. On the basis of the successful tests, Amazon has signed a commercial agreement to reserve annual volumes of OPC and supplementary cementitious materials from Brimstone’s upcoming plant in Oakland, California.

US: Amrize has reported financial results for the second quarter of 2025, noting its successful spin-off and listing of Amrize on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and ‘resilient’ results.

Amrize reported sales of US$3.22bn, down from US$3.24bn in the second quarter of 2024. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to US$947m from US$1bn previously. Net income dropped to US$428m from US$473m.

Building materials sales fell to US$2.25bn from US$2.27bn. Cement volumes fell by 6%. Amrize said it was a “resilient performance in a challenging environment with inclement weather in the quarter.” It said that public sector spending had resulted in steady infrastructure demand during the quarter.

The company will add 0.66Mt/yr of cement capacity and improve manufacturing efficiency by the end of 2025 at the company’s flagship cement plant in Missouri and increase capacity by 0.3Mt/yr at the St. Constant cement plant in Quebec. It also broke ground on a new fly ash beneficiation plant in Virginia to enable the use of recycled ash as a supplementary cementitious material.

Jan Jenisch, chair and CEO, said "We successfully listed Amrize on the NYSE on 23 June 2025 and we now begin our growth journey as Amrize in a position of strength, ready to serve our customers as the partner of choice for the professional builders of North America. In the second quarter, we successfully navigated a challenging environment, generating stable revenue and strong margins showing the resilience and strength of our business and market positions."