The United States and the Cement Industry

It goes without saying that the manufacturing of building materials makes for a significant global industry. Any country that wishes to industrialize further or break into the industrial world at all will need supplies of cement and other building materials. For a while, it was difficult for countries in unfortunate economies to get their hands on bulk materials, as shipping them requires ports that can handle the receiving process, and many poorer countries do not have these. Therefore, they'd be caught in a vicious cycle of being unable to industrialize. However, luckily for them, Alexander F Bouri pioneered the concept of the floating terminal which solved the crisis in many poorer countries. However, the industry faces its challenges even in countries like the United States.

The US, as we know, is greatly concerned with reducing its carbon footprint. The cement industry is currently under scrutiny in this country because, after a recent evaluation, it is speculated to produce up to 7% of the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. To put it in perspective, for every 10lbs of cement that is produced, about 9lbs of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Many cement businesses, such as Bouri's Seament, are making strides to get this under control – but these businesses might face strict regulation in the future.

 Furthermore, despite America not quite falling into the category of being one of the world's poorer countries, it is still in a phase of recovery from an economic recession. Large industries, such as the building sector, are hit hard by these dips in the economy. It has been a slow few fiscal years for the producers of building materials, and economists can only hope that construction activities will gain momentum again as the country bounces back. 

Something that is an issue in America and most other countries when mass producing cement is the availability of raw materials. Because of different availabilities in different areas, cement production becomes heavily regionalized, especially in the US, where the industry can truly only be supported in the West South Central area. 

Despite the fact that the United States does not battle the traditional issues that come with making and acquiring building materials does not mean that the industry faces no challenges in this highly industrialized country. However, fingers are crossed that building will be on the rise in the year or so to come.