Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/917007
Bill Langer is a consulting research geologist who spent 41 years with the U.S. Geological Survey before starting his own business. He can be reached at Bill_Langer@hotmail.com CARVED IN STONE 40 AGGREGATES MANAGER / January 2018 I penned my first 'Carved in Stone' column 20 years ago this month. Just for the heck of it, I re-read all my articles. Wow! A lot has happened over the years. This year, I will choose from past articles and talk about how things have changed. The accompanying graph shows per capita aggregate production for Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, and the United States. Production is strongly related to population, and there is a huge difference in populations among these areas and each country's aggregate production. To normalize the graph, I plotted per capita aggregate production. Probably the biggest thing that happened to the aggregate industry over the last score of years was the Great Recession, a period of general economic decline in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s. You can see that during the first 10 of the last 20 years, aggregate production in Australia, Canada, the European Union, and the United States pretty much chugged along with some slight ups and downs. Then, around 2008, the aggregate industry in Canada, the EU, and the U.S. took a pretty big hit. In the U.S., this relates to the burst of the housing bubble and the failure of the subprime mortgage market. Per capita ag- gregate production in neither Canada, the EU, nor the U.S. has fully recovered from the recession. It is a completely different story with China where, during the last 20 years, per capita aggregate production quadrupled from 4 to 17 tons. Unless you pulled a Rip Van Winkle and slept for the last 20 years, you probably are aware that China's economy has been booming since the 1980s. Part of that growth involves a population shift from rural areas to the cities. With its population of 1.3 billion people and thirst for new housing and other infrastructure, it's little surprise that China's per capita aggregate demand has steadily increased. But how do you explain aggregate production in Australia? During 2008 and 2009, while per capita aggregate production in Canada, the EU, and the U.S. were plummeting, production in Australia increased. Australia avoided the recession due to a number of factors, one of which is the country's proximity to the booming Chinese economy. Exports to China, and the related mining boom in Australia, helped keep its economy growing throughout the worst of the recession. China's strong economic growth has inspired other low and middle income countries such as Brazil, and other countries with large populations, such as India, to emulate its economic models. So how did aggregate production in other countries fare during the Great Recession? Because economic growth is closely related to aggregate production, this map showing the economic condition of countries during 2009 can be used as a proxy for aggregate pro- duction. Countries colored green had economic gain from 2008 and 2009, whereas countries colored brown had economic losses. The darker the green or brown, the greater the economic gain or loss, respectively. Let's see if it works. The U.S., Canada, the EU countries (except Poland, where aggregate production increased during 2008-2010) all had decreases in aggregate production and economic losses. Australia and China had increased aggregate production and economic gains. Yup, it seems to work. I wonder what this map will look like 20 years from now? AM Twenty years of aggregates production as seen through 'Carved in Stone.' Aggregates and Time Travel