The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that the second quarter ended on a soft note, with the headline index rising only 0.1 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis in June. During June, chemical production increased in Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, Africa & the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. Production fell in North America and Latin America. The Global CPRI was up 2.1 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) on a 3MMA basis and stood at 108.5 percent of its average 2012 levels in June.
During June, capacity utilization in the global business of chemistry declined 0.2 percentage points to 79.2 percent. This is off from 80.7 percent last June and is below the long-term (1987-2015) average of 89.1 percent.
Results were mixed on a product basis during June. Weakness in the production of consumer products, organic chemicals, synthetic rubber and other specialties was offset by gains in pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, consumer products, inorganic chemicals, plastic resins, manufactured fibers and coatings. Considering year-over-year comparisons, chemical production increased in most categories with the exception of agricultural chemicals. Growth was strongest in plastic resins followed by organic chemicals, other specialty chemicals, and consumer products.
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 U.S. CPRI data, a timely source of U.S. regional chemical production.