The US Midterm elections have taken place but we have more important matters to discuss: the state of the US cement sector. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) published its half-year report a few weeks ago and the larger cement companies have been releasing their latest financial results over the last week or so. Let’s track what’s been happening.

Graph 1: Cement shipments by region in the US in the first half of 2025 and 2026. Source: USGS.

The USGS data shows that domestic cement shipments grew by 7% year-on-year to 40.8Mt in the first half of 2026 compared to 38Mt in the same period in 2025. Imports fell by 2% to 8.8Mt from 9Mt. Overall shipments grew by 6% to 49.8Mt from 47Mt. By region, shipments rose, particularly in the Midwest and the Northeast.

On imports it is worth noting that the USGS shows a decrease in Portland and blended cement import shipments but a slight increase in hydraulic cement and clinker imports. Clinker may be one reason for the difference here but the USGS points out that the import and shipment figures don’t always tally up. Of the larger importing countries, Canada’s rose by 8% to 2.11Mt and Vietnam’s by 20% to 3.1Mt. However, Mexico’s fell by 10% to just under 0.5Mt and Türkiye’s by 2% to 4.06Mt. In Canada’s case this was before the temporary import tariffs were enacted from August to September.

Analyst Ed Sullivan’s take on this is that private sector data centre and utility construction has boosted construction activity significantly in the first half of the year. This is expected to continue in the second half of 2026 and into 2027. He also notes that these kinds of projects can reflect a large share of a state’s cement consumption. When these projects are built, cement consumption may subsequently reverse noticeably. As ever, Sullivan is mindful of interest rates and the negative effect that geopolitical events such as the US war with Iran may have ultimately on construction activity, although he does point out that data centre and utility construction is relatively immune from this.

The larger cement producers have all reported rising revenue and earnings year-on-year for the first nine months of 2026. This seems to have started to slow down in the third quarter of 2026 to varying degrees. Amrize, for example, reported that its cement sales volumes were up by 4% year-on-year to 17.3Mt in the first nine months of 2026 but that they fell by 4% year-on-year to 7Mt in the third quarter of 2026. It blamed the latter on poor weather in the Northeast, South and Central regions, “...partially offset by steady-state and federally-funded multi-year projects.” Despite this it still managed to put its cement prices up in the third quarter although, to be fair, it noted mounting energy, fuel and freight costs.

CRH reported a similar situation, with slowing revenue and earnings in the third quarter citing a “challenging cost environment and subdued residential activity.” As well as completing its acquisition of aggregates and infrastructure company Arcosa in the third quarter, the company also launched its Velocity cost savings and efficiency initiative. Cemex experienced growing sales but falling operating earnings in both the third quarter and first nine months of 2026. It attributed this to input cost inflation, lower cement prices and an unplanned outage at its Brooksville cement plant in Florida. It added that demand was being led by infrastructure projects. It also agreed with Ed Sullivan about the prominence of data centres and the wide AI ecosystem in construction, saying that a high-single digital percentage of its ready-mixed concrete volumes in the first nine months of 2026 were related to AI projects.

Heidelberg Materials announced that its sales and earnings in North America increased in both the year to date and the third quarter. It attributed this to infrastructure activity, industrial and data centre construction. It too put up prices to mitigate against cost inflation. Lastly, it pointed out that aggregates remained its ‘key growth driver.’ Quickcrete Holdings became a major US-based cement producer in 2025 when it bought Summit Materials. It is also a private company. However, S&P reduced its forecast for Quikcrete’s adjusted leverage in June 2025 on the basis that it expected growth in the company’s cement, ready-mix, aggregates and ductile iron pipe markets.

Infrastructure spending flowing from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has been a driver of US cement demand in recent years. This may be starting to slow now depending on who one asks. Luckily though the data centre boom and utilities appear to be kicking in. Residential drivers are not looking as strong, especially as prices continue to rise in connection to the situation in Iran. Prices have been cited as a key voter issue in the recent US elections and many of the cement companies featured above have put up their prices.

If the third-quarter producer financial reports summarised here are indicative, then volumes look set to soften. In response, cost-saving exercises such as CRH’s Velocity program may proliferate. Another side of this may be increased interest in secondary cementitious materials (SCM) to cut clinker costs and/or energy savings schemes such as using more alternative fuels. Note last week’s announcement that Rodan Energy Solutions and St. Marys Cement are planning a battery energy storage system (BESS) for the Bowmanville plant in Ontario. It’s not in the US but it is close by and well positioned for exports. The next few quarters look unpredictable.

Cimentos de Moçambique celebrated the opening of a new clinker production line at its Dondo plant this week. The achievements mark considerable change to the cement sector in Mozambique over the past few years and particularly so far in 2026. We have covered this market tangentially in recent months but we make it the focus this week.

China-based Huaxin Cement purchased Cimentos de Moçambique from InterCement in 2023. It bought the Brazil-based company’s operations in Africa for US$265m, including cement plants in Mozambique and South Africa. Huaxin Cement then started investing in new production lines and these have started to be commissioned in 2026. It has built new integrated production lines at the Nacala plant in the northern province of Nampula and the Dondo plant in the central Sofala province. These started operation in July 2026 and October 2026 respectively. The plants now have a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and 1.3Mt/yr. Note that Dondo was previously a grinding plant. Huaxin Cement has also renovated the clinker production line at the Matola plant in Maputo province. That plant has a production capacity of around 0.9Mt/yr.

At the start of the 2020s the cement sector in Mozambique was dominated by lots of grinding plants (10+). The two integrated plants run by Cimentos de Moçambique were frequently reported to have maintenance issues or be mothballed. This began to change in 2021 when West China Cement opened the 2Mt/yr Dugongo Cement plant in Matutuíne, Maputo Province. Local grinding companies accused Dugongo Cement of ‘unfair pricing’ later that year when the price of cement reportedly dropped by up 70%. More project announcements followed, including additional Dugongo Cement plants and the Clay & Gravel Holding cement plant in Chibabava, and the Huaxin Cement upgrades arrived this year. The local sector now has an estimated cement production capacity of around 5Mt/yr from integrated plants and 5Mt/yr from grinding plants. One market research company reported that cement demand reached a high of 2.8Mt in 2016 before falling to 2.2Mt in 2018 due to the so-called ‘tuna bonds’ debt scandal. West China Cement estimated that the country had a domestic demand for cement of 3.5Mt/yr in 2025.

The increase in integrated capacity in Mozambique has also started to have effects internationally. In March 2026 the Ministry of Economy said it was going to reduce by 20% a protective tariff put in place to protect new plant investments such as the Dugongo Cement plant in Matutuíne. A few months later a South African manufacturers’ association started complaining about imports from Mozambique. By September 2026 the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) said it was investigating the alleged dumping of cement from Mozambique and Vietnam after complaints from local cement producers Afrimat, Sephaku Cement and InterCement. ITAC reached the conclusion that the dumping margin for Mozambique was determined to be 90.5%. Tariffs now look likely.

All of this looks like bad news for Mozambique’s standalone grinding plants since the country can now produce more cement that it consumes. Domestic demand has risen over the last decade but not significantly. The clinker producers look set to control the domestic market and export what they can accordingly. If or when exports to South Africa become more expensive, then the clinker producers seem likely to target other neighbouring countries. This includes Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These countries need more cement. Tanzania, however, has production overcapacity (on paper at least) and so is less likely to be a target for exports.

The race between cement production capacity and consumption is a regular story that Global Cement covers as nations develop and markets evolve. Similar themes are observable from country to country but local conditions invariably make it play out differently. A recent independent column on Reuters noted that “the cement pipeline acts as a leading indicator of Africa's broader energy needs.” It placed Mozambique in the top 20 countries building new capacity, also including Angola, Libya, Mali and Uganda. The author’s view is that Africa could lead the world’s demand for electricity, transport fuels and industrial energy in coming decades. New cement plants are the harbinger of all of this potential. And more plants are on the way in Mozambique.

Heidelberg Materials announced this week that plans for its GeZero project in Geseke, Germany, have been paused. This follows similar hiatuses this year for other projects by Heidelberg Materials in Sweden and Canada and by Holcim in Belgium. Yet this stands in contrast to the latest Global CCS Institute report that noted over 100 commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in operation.

The GeZero suspension has been blamed partly on the CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure for the Geseke cement plant. The company’s exact words were “Current framework conditions are not yet sufficient to support a robust business case. In particular, the relevant value chains are not yet mature enough to ensure that CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure solutions will be available on time, and at an acceptable level of economic risk for us as a CO₂ producer.” The group took pains to point out that continued cement production at the unit will remain unaffected by this decision. It also flagged its operational carbon capture and storage (CCS) at Brevik in Norway and work on the Padeswood CCS project in the UK, which started in late 2025.

The Heidelberg Materials’ pilot carbon capture project at its Edmonton cement plant in Canada was reportedly put on hold in August 2026. In a statement to local press it said, “Heidelberg Materials regularly reviews project requirements, external support needs, and resource allocations to ensure responsible stewardship of company resources and shareholder capital.” One commentator at the time linked the decision to uncertainty on government support and low local carbon prices. The group’s CCS project at Slite in Sweden was paused in late 2025 and it then withdrew its permit application in March 2026. The decision to pause the project in November 2025 followed confirmation that the Swedish Energy Agency had rejected a funding application.

Holcim’s Go4Zero project at its Obourg cement plant in Belgium is a distinctive case because the group appears to have decided to delay the second phase of the project. Phase one was to build a new air-oxyfuel switchable kiln at the unit. Ground-breaking on this started in mid-2024. However, in late January 2026 local press reported that the second phase of the project had been paused due to uncertainties surrounding nearby CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure. Phase two was to deploy “the end-to-end CO₂ value chain alongside our industry partners.” To this end Holcim signed a deal with Air Liquide in February 2026 whereby the supplier would provide the oxygen for the kiln line and the cryogenic capture technology. However, local press also noted that the final investment decision required more partnerships along the value chain and further government support. To be fair to Holcim though, even building the air-oxyfuel switchable kiln is a major achievement. Commissioning is expected in early 2027.

The examples contrast with the somewhat upbeat message from the Global CCS Institute last week in its Global Status of CCS 2026 report. Its headline figures were that 113 commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects are currently operational and capacity is set to exceed 100Mt/yr when projects being built are commissioned. This is across all industries though, not just cement. It also noted the emergence of transport networks, storage hubs and said that around one in three projects being tracked by the Institute are transport and storage schemes. Clearly this does not fit with two of the examples above where transport and storage infrastructure issues and supporting frameworks have been blamed for projects being wound down although the institute does have a more general perspective.

Some quick takeaways here are that CCS projects are massively expensive for cement plants, require significant government support, need suitable infrastructure and networks to move the CO₂ onwards after capture, call for legislative support to enable this and are subject to a variety of market indicators, including carbon pricing. Capturing CO₂ is the first part of the challenge. The second half is working out what happens next and enabling government frameworks to make it viable. Echoing this article’s theme of issues with CO₂ transport infrastructure, a proposed route of CO₂ pipeline in the UK’s peak district was revised in September 2026 following opposition. This network, if built, will potentially support three cement plants in the UK. Thankfully for Heidelberg Materials it will not connect to its Padeswood CCS project. To end on a more positive note, the EU Innovation Fund approved funding for a 1.1Mt/yr CCS project at Molins’ Sant Vicenç dels Horts cement plant in Barcelona this week. Enagás will be responsible for the CO₂ transport infrastructure. If governments are still serious about net zero, they may need to work on resolving the kinds of issues mentioned above that are pausing CCS projects at cement plants.

One trend that Global Cement Weekly has noted in recent months has been investment by Indian cement companies in electric vehicles (EV). Producers including UltraTech Cement, JK Cement, Dalmia Cement and Wonder Cement have all enlarged their fleets. Let’s explore what’s been happening.

UltraTech Cement said in September 2026 that it was scaling up its EV fleet to over 600 trucks by December 2026. It has signed contracts with manufacturers including Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, IPLTech, Energy in Motion, Sany and others to make it happen. The total fleet will transport about 5Mt/yr of clinker and other materials in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha. It will also allow the company to avoid using 39Ml/yr of diesel. The producer started using compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks in 2021 and EVs in 2024. Its CNG and EV fleet currently surpasses 850 trucks.

There have been other cement companies investing too. Dalmia Cement (Bharat) said at the end of September 2026 that it was working with SwitchLabs Automobiles and Energy In Motion. This project has deployed 24 EV trucks for the transportation of bulk raw materials, including petcoke, slag and gypsum from Karaikal Port to its cement plants in Dalmiapuram and Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu. Dalmia Cement and SwitchLabs have also reportedly developed a trailer-swap operating model designed to improve utilisation and reduce idle time for EV trucks. Under the model, an electric tractor can interchange trailers rather than remaining idle during loading and unloading activities.

Back in July 2026 Wonder Cement and Montra Electric announced the deployment of around 250 Rhino 5538 EV 4×2 TT EV trucks. At the time Montra Electric said that the trucks would operate across the Nimbahera - Dahej Port and Nimbahera - Tuna Port routes, covering approximately 1450km across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It added that this made it India's longest commercial electric freight corridor. Crucially, the supplier also mentioned charging infrastructure. This comprised 13 charging stations with 39 chargers. Some other key details to note included that the 5538 EV 4x2 TT truck has a 282kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate battery that has a range of up to 198km per charge on a one-way loaded, one-way empty duty cycle. It is also available in two configurations: a standard fixed-battery variant capable of fast-charging from 20% to 100% in about 60 minutes; and a battery-swap variant that enables a full battery replacement in under six minutes.

Finally, JK Cement also revealed in July 2026 that it has entered into a partnership with Billion Electric to deploy more than 150 EV trucks during the financial year. The arrangement will start with deployment of 20 EV trucks from JK Cement’s Muddapur plant in Karnataka. The trucks are intended to transport cement to stockyards in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. Similar to the Wonder Cement - Montra Electric deployment, Billion Electric Mobility will also be providing charging infrastructure as well as fleet operations and route planning. It was preparing to use ChargeZone’s charging network in the three states. 

Back in 2024 the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) and Confederation of Indian Industry released a report on how electrification could be introduced to the cement and raw material sector. It noted that using EV trucks could potentially cut logistic costs by 25 - 40% and that vehicles that operated over 8000km/month were ready to save money under energy and infrastructure prices at the time the report was published. Needless to say the reduction in CO₂ emissions would be immediate. It also said that in the 2020 - 2021 financial year road transportation represented 74 - 76% of total cement movement with most of these journeys being trips of up to 300km. For an average integrated cement plant, just under half of these trips (49%) were internal movements related to clinker production. The next 41% were outbound trips concerned with cement followed by 2% of trips related to slag and 7% with fly ash. Challenges noted to using EV trucks included the higher procurement costs for EV trucks, battery cost and maintenance issues, the necessity for charging infrastructure, reduced payload due the battery size, maintenance issues with the new vehicle types and reliance on imports for the trucks and parts.

Media commentators have pointed out that the cement sector in India is particularly suitable to adopt EVs early. This is principally due to the business generally having known routes that charging infrastructure can be built for rather than having to build a widespread network of chargers such as for consumer automotive. Throw in the cost savings suggested by the CMI and the recent wave of EV deals by cement companies in India starts to make sense. There are also a number of government policies that are aiding the transition such as the PM E-DRIVE truck incentive and various state initiatives. The other counterintuitive thing here is that diesel prices may not be the primary driver. Europe and North America have increasingly become preoccupied with mounting diesel prices. India, whilst not immune to the underlying geopolitical causes, has a large refining base and has been exporting diesel.

In conclusion, switching EV trucks appear to be making financial sense for cement producers in India and these companies are investing accordingly. The transition isn’t without its issues as mentioned above, particularly with financing and the change in logistic mindset of working around recharging a battery rather than filling a fuel tank. We intend to report back on this topic in future months as it develops, both in India and elsewhere.