June 11, 2019 – According to the U.S. Geological Survey – which just released its first-quarter report – the estimated production-for-consumption of construction aggregates in the first quarter of 2019 increased in five of the nine geographic divisions compared with that sold or used in the first quarter of 2018. With a nice overall increase of almost 9%, it begs the question, what happened in those four districts that saw declines? The New England region, which consists of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, was off 8.9%. The West North Central region, which consists of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, was off 0.7%. The Mountain region, which consists of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, was off 0.3%. The Pacific region, which consists of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, was off 12.6%. I think it is fair to predict that lingering winter weather hit both the New England and West North Central regions, and to some extent the Mountain region as well. The Pacific region also felt the impact of lingering winter weather at higher elevations, but add in forest fires, torrential rains, drought conditions and more. It could have been much worse than a 12.6% decline. When you read the quarterly reports coming from the publicly traded companies, almost every report now notes the impact of adverse weather conditions on operations.
A Look Inside the New USGS Report
