The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that the second quarter started on a soft note, with the headline index falling 0.2 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis in April. This follows a 0.1% decline in March, and a fairly strong 4th quarter. During April, chemical production increased in Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, while activity was flat in North America. Activity fell in Latin America, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The Global CPRI was up 1.9 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) on a 3MMA basis and stood at 108.0 percent of its average 2012 levels in April.
During April, capacity utilization in the global business of chemistry declined 0.5 percentage points to 79.4 percent. This is off from 81.0 percent last April and is below the long-term (1987-2015) average of 89.1 percent.
All segments of the business of chemistry have improved from the trough of the recession with the most pronounced recovery having occurred in the cyclical segments. During April, results were mixed, with weakness in the production of pharmaceuticals, consumer products, plastic resins and manufactured fibers. Considering year-over-year comparisons, chemical production increased in most categories. Growth was strongest in plastic resins followed by organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, 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 US CPRI data, a timely source of U.S. regional chemical production.