Cement Shortages, Concrete Inflation Threaten Biden’s Building Boom

Concrete is the most ubiquitous human-made substance on earth, so it was inevitable the global inflationary spiral would come for this energy-intensive material too. Soaring cement costs and concrete shortages are a threat to US President Joe Biden’s infrastructure and manufacturing reshoring ambitions and our monetary guardians’ efforts to curtail rampant price appreciation.

Cement prices are surging on both sides of the Atlantic as producers passed on higher energy and pollution-compliance costs to customers and then kept hiking prices even as their gas and electricity bills receded. European cement prices increased by around one third last year, with some nations recording much higher increases. In the US, cement prices are increasing at a 15% annual rate; tight supplies and outright shortages have affected much of the country.