The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that global chemicals production rose 0.5 percent in May after revised flat performance in April, as measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. During May, production increased in North America, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, Africa & the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region but decreased again in Latin America. The Global CPRI was up 1.9 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) on a 3MMA basis and stood at 109.9 percent of its average 2012 levels in May.
During May, capacity utilization in the global business of chemistry rose 0.3 percentage points to 80.0 percent. This is off from 80.6 percent last May and is below the long-term (1987-2016) average of 88.8 percent.
Results were generally positive on a product basis during May, with gains in agricultural chemicals, manufactured rubber, coatings, and other specialty chemicals. Considering year-over-year comparisons, growth was strongest in coatings followed by plastic resins and inorganic chemicals.
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.