TOP NEWS
Vulcan Reports Strong Aggregates Unit Profitability
Vulcan Materials Co. announced results for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2020, and the full year. Total revenues in the fourth quarter were $1,175.1 billion, down from $1,186.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019. Total revenues for the full year were $4,856.8 billion down from $4,929.1 billion in 2019.
Martin Marietta Achieves Fourth-Quarter Records
Martin Marietta Materials Inc. reported results for the fourth quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2020. The company is reporting total revenues of $1,179.6 billion for the quarter, compared to $1,100.4 billion during the same quarter in 2019. For 2020 as a whole, the company is reporting total revenues of $4,729.9 billion versus $4,739.1 billion in 2019.
CEMEX U.S. Business Shows Increase
CEMEX’s operations in the United States reported net sales of $1.0 billion, an increase of 8% from the same period in 2019. Operating EBITDA increased by 25% to $186 million versus the same quarter of 2019. For the full year, its U.S. business unit generated $747 million in EBITDA, the highest reported annual amount since 2007.
MSHA WATCH
The Mine Safety and Health Administration reported that on Jan. 19, 2021, a miner at Clyde Companies’ Hansen Pit in Salt Lake County, Utah, backed a haul truck to the edge of a dump point that was over-steepened by a loader removing material at the bottom of the slope. When the edge of the bank failed, the haul truck traveled backwards and overturned, landing on the roof of the cab. The miner was fatally injured. This is the second fatality reported in 2021, and the first classified as “Powered Haulage.”
USGS STATS
U.S. mines produced approximately $82.3 billion in minerals in 2020 – about $1.5 billion lower than the 2019 revised total of $83.7 billion – the U.S. Geological Survey announced Feb. 2. The value of industrial minerals production was dominated by crushed stone and construction sand and gravel (construction aggregates) at $27 billion. Crushed stone was the leading nonfuel mineral commodity domestically produced in 2020, accounting for 22% of the total value of U.S. nonfuel mineral production, according to Jason Willett, commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
- Total construction starts dropped 4% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $794.3 billion. Nonresidential building starts were flat in January, while nonbuilding starts dropped 10% and residential starts were 4% lower. From a regional perspective, starts were lower in three of the five regions – the Midwest, South Atlantic, and South Central. Starts rose, however, in the Northeast and West. Highways and bridges dropped 7%.
- The U.S. Census Bureau announced that total construction spending during December 2020 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,490.4 billion, 1.0% (± 0.8%) above the revised November estimate of $1,475.6 billion, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Burgex projects an average annual aggregates production increase of about 3% year over year, with a significant jump of 6.74% in 2021 due to a recovery response to 2020. Based on statistical analysis and time-series forecasting, they project that the U.S. construction aggregates industry will expand by 34% from 2020 to 2025, based on revenues, and 16% based on aggregate production.
ENERGY
WTI Crude Oil Futures 2/16/2021: $60.05/barrel, up $1.69 from week earlier; up $8.00 from year earlier.
Natural Gas Futures 2/16/2021: $3.129/MMBtu, down $0.294 from week earlier; down $1.292 from year earlier.
Retail Diesel 2/15/2021: $2.876/gal., up $0.075 from week earlier; down $0.014 from year earlier.
Electricity 11/20/2020: Average price to industrial customers 6.48 cents/kilowatt hour; down from 6.72 cents/kilowatt hour a year earlier.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration