The composite leading indicators (CLIs) for April that were recently released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) generally point to moderate improvement in growth for the world’s major economies, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com).
CLIs for the U.S. and Japan suggested growth firming, ACC said, and in Europe as a whole, the CLIs indicate a gain in growth momentum, ACC said in its report. The CLIs of the U.K., Canada, China and Brazil “point to growth close to trend rates,” ACC added. Russia’s CLI is losing momentum in Russia and that of India indicates below-trend growth.
In the U.S., overall production in the chemical industry rose 0.1% in May, and the growth was 0.2% if pharmaceuticals are excluded, ACC said. The gain in May is the third consecutive monthly rise, since a decline in February, according to the ACC report.
Production of basic chemicals rose 0.8% in May, plastic resins were up 0.9% and petrochemicals and organic chemicals production was up 2.3%. Those gains were offset partially by lower production levels for specialty chemicals, inorganic chemicals, synthetic rubber and manmade fibers, the ACC report said.