US Cement Consumer Market Prospects Bleak as Interest Rates Rise

2018, in Skokie, Illinois, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) market intelligence organization predicted that cement consumption in the United States would slow down in the next two years compared with 2018. It is reported that the growth rate of cement consumption this year is 2.9%, but it is expected to drop to 2.6% in 2019 and 1.6% in 2020. Ed Sullivan, senior vice president and chief economist of

PCA, said that PCA estimates that interest rates will have a relatively moderate but sustained upward trend after a decade of low and stable conditions. The Fed's action will gradually slow the pace of construction growth, mainly due to rising mortgage rates and rising non-residential loan costs. "While the tax cuts passed at the end of 2017 will help the overall economic recovery, the growing debt will be the subject of debate about public infrastructure spending in the future,"

Sullivan said. The

PCA's forecast for the overall U.S. economy shows that it will take a long time for the U.S. economy to show strong performance. Rising interest rates, fiscal difficulties at the national level and the aging of the means of economic recovery will lay the groundwork for the gradual decline of the economy. PCA predicts that the GDP growth rate of the United States will be 3.1% this year, 2.7% in 2019, and 2.2% in 2020. On the other hand, the unemployment rate in the United States is now below 4%, and the unemployment rate is expected to fall further in view of the prevailing labor shortage and the sharp rise in wages. "There is no doubt that the U.S. economy is strong and resilient,"

Sullivan added. Real GDP growth is healthy, wage growth is rising, and unemployment and consumer household debt are near record lows. Although interest rates have been rising, they have not reached a level that can have a significant impact on overall economic growth.