Wholesale trade in chemicals expanded 0.7% to $10.02 billion in March, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com).
“At the same time, inventories fell back 2.4% in March and, as a result, the inventory-to-sales ratio declined from 1.28 months’ supply in February to 1.24 in March,” the report says. This ratio is higher than that of one year ago (1.14). “The inventory imbalance among the wholesale stage of the supply chain remains but is apparently correcting,” ACC says.
Commenting on other economic data this week, the ACC report also said that headline producer prices for chemicals rose 0.4% in April. “Pharmaceutical prices were up 0.4%, as were prices for chemicals, excluding pharma, marking the largest monthly gain in more than two years,” the ACC report says. Additionally, “feedstock prices also advanced (by 4.2%) following an 8.2% gain in March,” the report says.
“During April, prices rose in nearly all categories, except manufactured fibers and coatings. Basic chemical prices rose 0.4% with a 0.5% gain in petrochemicals and a 0.6% gain in plastic resins. Specialty chemical prices edged higher by 0.2% as a decline in coatings offset a 0.7% gain in the prices of other specialty chemicals,” the report notes.
Prices for agricultural chemicals and consumer products also gained during the month. Compared to a year ago, prices remained lower by 4.9% on a 3-month-moving-average (3MMA) basis.