USA: Market Index Growth in Global Chemistry Continues Despite Hurricane Harvey

The American Chemistry Council’s Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that growth in global chemistry during August continued on a solid pace but was weighed down by effects of Hurricane Harvey.

Washington/USA — Global chemicals production rose 0.4 % in August, easing from a 0.5 % gain in July, as measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis.

During August, production increased in Western Europe, Africa & the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region but was soft elsewhere. The Global CPRI was up 3.1 % year-over-year (Y/Y) on a 3MMA basis and stood at 111.5 % of its average 2012 levels in August.

During August, capacity utilization in the global business of chemistry rose 0.1 percentage points to 80.7 %. This is up from 80.3 % last August and is below the long-term (1987-2016) average of 88.8 %.

Results were generally positive on a product basis during August, with gains in pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, plastic resins, manufactured fibers, coatings, and other specialty chemicals. Considering year-over-year comparisons, growth was strongest in coatings followed by pharmaceuticals and organic chemicals.

ACC’s Global CPRI measures the production volume of the business of chemistry for 33 key nations, sub-regions, and regions, all aggregated to the world total. The index is comparable to the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) production indices and features a similar base year where 2012=100.

This index is developed from government industrial production indices for chemicals from over 65 nations accounting for about 98 % of the total global business of chemistry. This data are the only timely source of market trends for the global chemical industry and are comparable to the US CPRI data, a timely source of US regional chemical production.

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USA: Chemicals Output

Global Chemicals Production Ends First Quarter with Mixed Results

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