The ongoing U.S. economic downturn has had a severe negative impact on this country's cement activity. A sharp drop in portland cement shipments is currently reaching into its third year. By the end of 2009, product consumption will have fallen by almost one-third from a 2006 peak. Incorporated within this figure are imported tonnages that recorded a staggering 80 percent-plus collapse. Comparable data to both of these levels were those last experienced during the distressing recessionary period of the early 1990s. Industry reaction has turned to reducing available domestic capacity. Closed facilities have usually been those with aged or less-efficient manufacturing units within a company's production system. As often happens, old plants may never really die, they can live on as distribution centers. Two primary business trends, which had characterized recent structural action, have become substantially reduced to become shadows of their former selves. Expansion-minded cement acquisitions have generally gone by the board, with only one producer buying a small stake in another. Vertical integration has been slowed to now include a small handful of events. Yet a number of new plant projects are proceeding in their efforts to place modernized output on-line.
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