Citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) said the wholesale trade in chemicals was up 1.1% in April to $11.1 billion, while inventories also rose by 0.8%. The data were included in ACC’s most recent Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report.
The inventory-to-sales ratio held steady at 1.13 in April, and is at the same level as a year ago at this time, ACC said.
Looking to the wider economy, the ACC report also discussed the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD; Paris; www.oecd.org) composite leading indicator (CLI). “The OECD CLI points to slowing growth momentum in most major emerging economies with improving prospects in much of the developed nations,” the report said, noting that a risk to the global economy could be rising oil prices due to fighting in Iraq and the potential for supply disruptions.
CLIs for Russia, Brazil and China saw below-trend growth, the ACC report said, while faster growth may be on hand for India. Stable growth momentum for the U.S. and Canada was suggested by the CLIs for those nations. The CLI for the OECD+6 (OECD countries, plus Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russian Federation and South Africa) was stable for April overall, and is up 3.5% compared to last year, the ACC report said.