The American Chemistry Council’s Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that growth in global chemistry during August continued on a solid pace but was weighed down by effects of Hurricane Harvey. Global chemicals production rose 0.4% in August, easing from a 0.5% gain in July, as measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. During August, production increased in Western Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region but was soft elsewhere. The Global CPRI was up 3.1% year-over-year (Y/Y) on a 3MMA basis and stood at 111.5% of its average 2012 levels in August.
During August, capacity utilization in the global business of chemistry rose 0.1 percentage points to 80.7%. This is up from 80.3% last August and is below the long-term (1987-2016) average of 88.8%.
Results were generally positive on a product basis during August, with gains in pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, plastic resins, manufactured fibers, coatings and other specialty chemicals. Considering year-over-year comparisons, growth was strongest in coatings followed by pharmaceuticals and organic 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 developed from government industrial production indices for chemicals from over 65 nations accounting for about 98% of the total global business of chemistry.
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