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.
