Data collected and tabulated by the American Chemistry Council shows that growth in global chemistry during October was buoyed by the U.S. recovery from Hurricane Harvey and a synchronized upswing in the global economy. The American Chemistry Council’s Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that global chemicals production, which fell 0.1% in September, rose 0.4% in October. During October, production gains were broad-based with all regions growing. The Global CPRI was up 2.7% year-over-year (Y/Y) on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and stood at 111.5% of its average 2012 levels in October.
During October, capacity utilization in the global business of chemistry rebounded 0.2 percentage points to 80.4%. This is up from 80.1% last October but is below the long-term (1987-2016) average of 88.7%.
During October, results were generally positive on a product basis with weakness only in pharmaceuticals and manufactured fibers. Considering year-over-year comparisons, growth was strongest in coatings followed by pharmaceuticals, manufactured fibers 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 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% of the total global business of chemistry.
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