Global, Middle East Chemicals Production Rises in April

The American Chemistry Council's Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that global chemicals production rose 0.1 percent in April, after a revised flat performance in March, as measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis.

During April, chemical production increased in North America, Western Europe, Africa, and the Middle East but decreased in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. Activity was flat in the Asia-Pacific region. The Global CPRI was up 1.8 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) on a 3MMA basis and stood at 109.6 percent of its average 2012 levels in April.

During April, capacity utilisation in the global business of chemistry slipped 0.1 percentage points to 79.9 percent. This is off from 80.7 percent last April and is below the long-term (1987-2016) average of 88.8 percent.

Results were mixed on a product basis during April, with gains in pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, inorganic chemicals, synthetic rubber, manufactured rubber, coatings, and other specialty chemicals. Considering year-over-year comparisons, growth was strongest in plastic resins followed by coatings 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 US CPRI data, a timely source of the US regional chemical production.