US cement shortage drags down construction industry

cement has forced Florida builders to lay off workers, South Carolina, Texas and parts of Louisiana to scramble for supplies, and other fast-growing States have become more dependent on imported cement.

Last year, the United States consumed 112.3 million tons of cement, of which nearly 19 million tons were imported. People in the

construction industry say the shortage of cement has something to do with China's construction boom. China, the world's largest cement producer, is unlikely to take much of the cement the United States needs, but its huge demand for other building materials ties up global freight, making it impossible to find ships to ship cement to the United States from major exporters such as Colombia and Thailand. The shortage of

cement is adding to the headache of the US construction industry, which is increasingly short of all kinds of building materials. Steel supplies are already tight, with prices for many products soaring by more than 50% since the beginning of the year. Construction timber is also in short supply, with prices soaring by more than 60% from a year ago, from 285 yuan per unit to 463 yuan. yuan.  

Many economists have begun to worry about the impact of the shortage of building materials on construction activity and the overall economy in the United States, especially the increase in mortgage rates, which seems to have begun to affect housing construction activity.