Total shipments of Portland and blended cement in the United States and Puerto Rico in September 2016 were about 8.8 million t (MT), down by 2.8 per cent from sales in September 2015. The leading producing states for Portland and blended cement in September 2016 were Texas, Missouri, California, Florida, and Michigan and these accounted for about 41 per cent of the national total. The leading cement-consuming states, Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio, received 37 per cent of the September shipments.
Masonry cement shipments of about 215 000 t in September 2016 were down by 3.4 per cent from those in September 2015. The leading masonry-cement-consuming states were Florida, Texas, California, North Carolina, and Georgia. The relatively low cost of imports have resulted from a combination of low bunker fuel costs, modest ship chartering rates, increased ship availability, and a strong dollar.