Global Chemicals Output Rises to Start Third Quarter
WASHINGTON (August 26, 2021) – After a couple soft months in the spring, global chemicals production rose 1.2% in July following a 2.0% gain in June, according to data collected and tabulated by the American Chemistry Council (ACC). During July, chemical output increased in all regions except Latin America. Headline global production was up 17.5% year-over-year (Y/Y) on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. Output a year ago was off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In July, global production stood at 136.0% of its average 2012 levels.
Among chemical industry segments, July results were positive across segments. Compared with a year earlier, production gains occurred in all segments.
During July, global capacity rose 0.2% and was up 2.3% Y/Y. With rising output, capacity utilization in the global chemical industry grew by 1.5 percentage points, to 90.7%. This is well above 79.0% last July and above the long-term (1987-2019) average of 86.4%. This marks the first time in three decades that operating rates were over 90%.
ACC’s Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) measures the production volume of the chemical industry 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 base year where 2012=100. This index is developed from government industrial production indices for chemicals from more than 65 nations accounting for about 98 percent of the total global chemical industry. This data set is the only timely source of market trends for the global chemical industry and is comparable to the U.S. CPRI data, a timely source of U.S. regional chemical production.
