The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) reported that with continued recovery in the U.S. economy, U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes rebounded by 1.9 percent in July, off from a strong revised 4.6 percent gain in June, a revised 0.1 percent decline in May, and a record 12.4 percent decline in April. Of the 28 specialty chemical segments that ACC monitors, 25 expanded in July, an improvement from the expansion in 24 segments in June and the decline across all segments in April. On a sequential basis, diffusion was 91 percent in July, an improvement from 89 percent in June and 0 percent in April. Of the 25 segments that showed growth in July, 17 featured gains of 1.0 percent or more, ACC said.
During July, overall specialty chemicals volumes were down by 9.1 percent on a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, an improvement from the 11.7 decline the previous month. Volumes stood at 101.0 percent of their average 2012 levels in July. This is equivalent to 6.88 billion pounds (3.12 million metric tons). On a Y/Y basis, gains were seen in only three specialty chemical segments: cosmetic additives, electronic chemicals, and flavors and fragrances. On a Y/Y basis, diffusion was 11 percent in July, still much worse than at the start of the year.
Specialty chemicals are materials manufactured on the basis of the unique performance or function and provide a wide variety of effects on which many other sectors and end-use products rely. They can be individual molecules or mixtures of molecules, known as formulations. The physical and chemical characteristics of the single molecule or mixtures along with the composition of the mixtures influence the performance end product. Individual market sectors that rely on such products include automobile, aerospace, agriculture, cosmetics and food, among others.