FIRST LOOK – May 2022

TOP NEWS

Hubacz Named First NSSGA Female Board Chair 
During its Annual Membership Meeting at its 2022 Convention, NSSGA outgoing Chair Darin Matson of Rogers Group Inc. handed off the gavel to the association’s first Chairwoman Karen Hubacz, president and CEO of Bond Construction.

AGG1 a Huge Hit
More than 11,000 asphalt paving and aggregates professionals filled a sold-out Music City Center exhibition floor in Nashville as AGG1 and World of Asphalt brought the industry back together. 

Suzio Receives NSSGA’s 2022 Barry K. Wendt Commitment Award
During the second general session of the 2022 Annual Convention, NSSGA presented Ric Suzio of York Hill Trap Rock Quarry Co. Inc. with the 2022 Barry K. Wendt Commitment Award.

USGS STATS 
An estimated 397 million metric tons (Mt) of crushed stone was produced and shipped for consumption in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of 8% compared with that of the same period of 2020. The estimated annual output of crushed stone produced for consumption in 2021 was 1.54 billion metric tons (Gt), an increase of 4% compared with that of 2020, according to Jason Willet, commodity specialist, National Minerals Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

ECONOMIC INDICATORS
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that construction spending during February 2022 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,704.4 billion, 0.5% (±0.7%) above the revised January estimate of $1,695.5 billion. 

The single-family housing market continued to show signs of softening in March as permits and starts declined due to rising mortgage interest rates and ongoing supply chain bottlenecks that continue to delay construction projects and raise home building costs. Due to strong multifamily production, overall housing starts increased 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.79 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. This is 22.3% above the rate posted a year earlier.

Total construction starts fell 12% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $903.8 billion, according to Dodge Construction Network. Nonresidential building starts lost 29%, in part due to the start of three large manufacturing facilities in the prior month.

MSHA WATCH 
The Mine Safety and Health Administration reported that on March 22, a 44-year-old heavy equipment operator drowned at a AMI Silica operation in Jackson County, Wis., after the floating pump station he was standing on capsized. At the time of the accident, the miner was assisting a co-worker in connecting a water discharge line. This is the 12th fatality reported in 2022, and the first classified as “Drowning.”

ENERGY

WTI CRUDE OIL FUTURES 
4/21/2022: $103.79/barrel, down $3.16 from week earlier; up $42.44 from year earlier.

NATURAL GAS FUTURES 
4/21/2022: $6.957/MMBtu, down $0.343 from week earlier; up $4.265 from year earlier.

RETAIL DIESEL 
4/18/2022: $5.101/gal., up $0.028 from week earlier; up $1.977 from a year earlier.

ELECTRICITY 
1/20/2021: Average price to industrial customers 7.30 cents/kilowatt hour; up from 6.29 cents/kilowatt hour a year earlier.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

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