The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act will drive a rise in cement consumption, according to the Portland Cement Association (PCA).
The $305 billion highway bill will maintain and improve U.S. infrastructure for the next five years. According to PCA, cement consumption’s largest impact will be on authorizations from the Federal Highway Administration.
“[The] FAST [Act] represents an average addition of 835,000 metric tons annually to the cement industry,” says Edward Sullivan, chief economist and group vice president at PCA. “Smaller increases occur in the near term (370,000 tons for 2016) and larger net increases occur in the out years of the forecast horizon (1.4 million tons for 2020).”