The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that growth in the industry has been nearly flat most of the year thus far. The headline index for September showed no gain or loss on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This follows six months of relatively stable activity after a fairly strong fourth quarter 2015. During September, chemical production increased in North America and Western Europe but fell elsewhere. The Global CPRI was up 1.6 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) on a 3MMA basis and stood at 108.5 percent of its average 2012 levels in September.
During September, capacity utilization in the global business of chemistry declined 0.3 percentage points to 78.8 percent. This is off from 80.3 percent last September and is below the long-term (1987-2015) average of 89.1 percent.
Results were mixed on a product basis during September, with weakness centered in the production of consumer products, inorganic chemicals, synthetic rubber, manufactured fibers, and other specialties. Gains were registered in pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, organic chemicals, and coatings. Plastics resins activity was flat.
ACC’s Global CPRI measures the production volume of the business of chemistry for thirty-three 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 sixty-five nations accounting for about 98 percent 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 U.S. CPRI data, a timely source of U.S. regional chemical production.