The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that headline global production was flat during November on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This follows two months of decline and fairly good gains last year. During November, chemical production increased in North America, Latin America, and Central & Eastern Europe but fell in Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions. Chemical production was flat in Africa & Middle East. The Global CPRI was up only 0.4 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) on a 3MMA basis and stood at 108.1 percent of its average 2012 levels in September.
During November, capacity utilization in the global business of chemistry declined 0.1 percentage points to 78.3 percent. This is off from 80.5 percent last November and is below the long-term (1987-2015) average of 89.1 percent.
Results were mixed on a product basis during November, with gains in consumer products, inorganic chemicals, plastic resins, synthetic rubber, coatings, and other specialties. Considering year-over-year comparisons, growth was strongest in coatings followed by plastic resins, and other specialty 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 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 US CPRI data, a timely source of U.S. regional chemical production.