Portland cement produced, shipped, and in stock in the United States, 1922 and 1923, by States Including Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. The following table, showing production, shipments, and stocks by months for 1922 and 1923, has been compiled mainly from reports of producers but includes estimates for the output of one or two plants each month. Although the figures only approximate the totals shown in other tables of this report that are based on final annual returns from the producers, they reflect the fluctuations in the industry during the year. Production of Portland cement is necessarily curtailed to some extent in December, January, and February in the colder parts of the United States at plants using marl as a raw material and at other plants where the wet process is employed, and numerous other mills also close for repairs in the winter, when the demand is least strong. Movements now on foot to create a steadier demand for cement appear to be making progress. In connection with the stock of finished cement available by months throughout the year the quantity of clinker, or unground cement, also in reserve at the mills is of interest, and the second following table shows these quantities as estimated by the manufacturers. Estimated production, shipments, and mill stocks of Portland cement in the United States, by months, 1922 and 1923, in barrels Month 1922 Stocks on 1923 Stocks on Production Shipments last day of Production Shipments last day of Estimated clinker, or unground cement, at the mills in the United States, at end of each month, 1922 and 1923, in barrels January. February March April.. May June. 1918. 1919. 1920. Portland cement shipped from mills in the United States, 1918-1923 The stock of Portland cement reported on hand at the mills at the end of 1923 showed an increase of 17 per cent over that.at the end of 1922 and was in excess of the average for the last six years (9,497,700 barrels). In fact, the stocks at the end of 1923 were exceeded only in 4 of the 13 years during which records of stocks have been kept by the Geological Survey. The reports of stocks at a few mills in 1922 were revised by the producers. The totals by States and districts are shown in preceding tables. Finished Portland cement in stock at mills in the United States, December 31, 1918 2 A Stocks of finished Portland cement at factories CShipments of finished Portland cement from factories FIGURE 13.-Monthly fluctuations in production, shipments, and stocks of finished Portland cement, 1922 and 1923 DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION An estimate of the total consumption of Portland cement in the United States may be made by adding the imports to the shipments and subtracting the exports from the sum. Of course a variable but considerable stock of cement is at all times in transit, in warehouses at distributing points, and awaiting use at jobs, so that the estimate thus made is at best only approximate. Still another uncertain element in this estimate is the fact that as the cement imported and exported is classed as hydraulic cement the records do not discriminate between Portland and other cements and probably also include some plaster. Portland cement, however constitutes by far the greater part of the exports. The apparent domestic consumption in 1923 showed an increase of nearly 17 per cent as compared with the consumption in 1922. 9786°-26-20 Portland cement available for domestic consumption in the United States, 1918–1923, 1918. 1919. 1920. 1921. 1922 1923 Year in barrels The estimates of consumption of Portland cement are furthermore only approximate because they represent only the records of shipments by manufacturers into the several States. The shipments of cement into a State during a year may not equal the consumption in that State during the same year, but shipments for a long period should afford a very fair index to the consumption. The simplest available common unit is the estimated consumption per capita in barrels, which is obtained by comparing the shipments into States with the population for the States în 1922 and 1923. The estimates of population in the following table were furnished by the Bureau of the Census. There is a difference between the official figures of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce for exports of cement, as given on page 314, and the exports reported by manufacturers, as given in the following table, owing to the fact that cement shipped from mills destined for foreign countries and for Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico is reported by the shipper as exported, whether or not it leaves the country during that calendar year, but the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce bases its export figures on the cement that actually leaves the country, according to its records. (The shipments to Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico are given on p. 315.) The exports given by that bureau for 1923 include all other hydraulic cement exported, whereas the table of per capita consumption relates only to Portland cement, but for 1922 Portland and natural cements are given separately. The per capita consumption shown by the table necessarily falls short of the total apparent consumption by the quantity of the imports. These increase the consumption in certain States near the Canadian border and in those having seaports; in 1923 they increased the general average per capita consumption by about 0.015 barrel. The highest per capita consumption in 1923 was that of California, 2.69 barrels. This State also held the record in 1922, 2.23 barrels, and it was second only to Wyoming in its increase in 1923. There were 26 States in which the per capita consumption in 1923 was 1 barrel or more, 12 of them west and 14 of them east of Mississippi River. Two of these States, North Carolina and Florida, were in the South. Changes occurred in all the States except Colorado, Oregon, and South Carolina, and only six decreases were recorded. The general average consumption was 1.21 barrels, compared with 1.06 barrels in 1922. This is the highest average per capita consumption for the United States on record, the range hitherto since 1914 having been from 0.64 to 1.06 barrels. 1 Data on per capita consumption of Portland cement by States beginning with the year 1914 are given in preceding volumes of Mineral Resources, |