Global chemical output decline narrows, China contributes the most

Statistics from the American Chemistry Council show that as China ’s steadily stable economic activities offset global weakness, global chemical production fell 1.3% month-on-month in April, compared with 3.3% in March and 2.1% in February The decline in the previous month has improved.

  According to data from the council, chemical production in all regions of the world declined in April. Overall, based on the three-month dynamic average, global production decreased by 5.8% year-on-year, which was 110.2% of the 2012 average.

  In terms of production capacity, global chemical production capacity increased slightly by 0.2% month-on-month in April and by 3.3% year-on-year. However, due to reduced production, the capacity utilization rate of the global chemical industry fell by 1.2% month-on-month to 75.6%, which was lower than 82.8% in April last year and the lowest level since April 2009.

  As far as the industry sector is concerned, most sectors in April saw a decline. Only basic chemicals, plastic resins, synthetic rubber, and man-made fibers gained some MoM, mainly from China. On a year-on-year basis, only one segment of synthetic rubber grew.