TOP NEWS
AGG1 Breaks Records in Nashville
The 2016 AGG1 Academy & Expo broke records for attendance, exhibit and education numbers, according to show organizers. Registered attendance of more than 9,000 beat the record set last year in Baltimore by 18 percent.
Rogers Group Makes Big Changes
At the March 18 meeting of the board of directors of Rogers Group Inc. (RGI), Darin Matson was elected to the position of president and chief executive officer, effective April 1. The election was called for as Gerard V. (Jerry) Geraghty announced his retirement from that position.
Williford to Chair NSSGA Board of Directors
Hal Williford, president and CEO of Memphis Stone and Gravel Co., became chairman of the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association’s (NSSGA) board of directors and will hold the position through the association’s next Annual Convention.
MSHA WATCH
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will soon publish a final workplace exposure standard for crystalline silica that will cut the permissible exposure limit in half. The final rule was recently issued by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez. The standard reduces the exposure limit from 100 micrograms (µg) per cubic meter of air to 50 µg per cubic meter over an eight-hour period. The National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association and the aggregates industry are committed to the prevention of adverse health effects associated with the inhalation of crystalline silica, but the prevailing opinion is that the rule, which MSHA is destined to replicate, is regulatory overkill.
USGS STATS
The estimated annual output of construction aggregates produced for consumption in 2015 was 2.28 billion metric tons (Gt), an increase of 6 percent compared with that of 2014, according to Jason Willett, crushed-stone commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). “An estimated 579 million metric tons (Mt) of total construction aggregates was produced and shipped for consumption in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2015, an increase of 8 percent compared with that of the same period of 2014,” Willett said.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
- The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction spending during January 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,140.8 billion, 1.5 percent (±1.0 percent) above the revised December estimate of $1,123.5 billion.
- At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $667.6 billion, new construction starts in February advanced 10 percent compared to the previous month, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Highway and bridge construction retreated 17 percent in February.
- Nationwide housing starts rose 5.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.178 million units in February, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. Single-family production increased 7.2 percent to 822,000 units – its highest level since November.
ENERGY
WTI CRUDE OIL FUTURES PRICE: 3/30/2016: $38.32/bbl, down $1.47 from week earlier; down $9.28 from year earlier.
NATURAL GAS FUTURES PRICE: 3/30/2016: $1.996/mmBtu, up $0.202 from week earlier; down $0.644 from year earlier.
NATURAL GAS INVENTORIES: 3/25/2016: 2,468 Bcf, down 25 Bcf from week earlier; up 1002 Bcf from year earlier.
CRUDE OIL INVENTORIES: 3/25/2016: 534.8 mmbbl, up 2.3 mmbbl from week earlier; up 63.4 mmbbl from year earlier.
WEEKLY COAL PRODUCTION: 3/26/2016: 11.604 million tons, up 0.266 million tons from week earlier; down 7.039 million tons from year earlier.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration