Global chemical industry production grew by 0.3% in October, according to data from the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) Global Chemical Production Regional Index (CPRI).
The pace of growth is slower than earlier in the year, but on a year-upon-year basis, global production was up by 8.3% compared to last year (using a three-month moving average). Year-to-year comparisons have also moderated in all regions, ACC points out in its latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Trends report, which discusses the data.
“Most leading indicators of global industrial production signal softness into early 2011, but a possible pick-up later,” the ACC report states. ACC’s Global CPRI measures the production volume of the business of chemistry for 33 key nations, regions and subregions, all aggregated to the world total.
The latest ACC economic report also discusses data from the U.S. CPRI, which shows a 0.6% rise in chemical production in the U.S. for October of this year. According to the U.S. CPRI, total chemical production in all regions was 2.0% higher than October 2009.
In the wider economy, the ACC report mentions the tentative deal between the White House and U.S. lawmakers to extend tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of 2010. “Most economist estimates are that the compromise deal [on the tax cuts] will boost economic growth in 2011 by 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points,” the ACC report says. The report cautions however, that the policy does not address issues of long-term fiscal sustainability.
The ACC report also cites recently released economic data that indicate that U.S. exports continued to grow, which “bodes well for 4th-quarter [U.S.] GDP.”