Chemical production in the US increased 0.4% on a sequential three-month-moving-average (3MMA) basis in November, according to Chemweek with reference to the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC).
This follows a 1.1% gain in October, and 0.6% gain in September.
Improvement was evident in most chemical end sub-sectors, including fertilizers, synthetic dyes and pigments, chlor-alkali, and inorganic chemicals, although gains eased in coatings, adhesives, crop protection chemicals, and some other sectors. Chemical production also increased in all regions of the country.
Overall factory output rose 0.7% on a sequential 3MMA basis in November, signaling a solid trend for chemicals demand, according to ACC.“The trend in production rose in nearly all key chemistry end-use industries, with the strongest gains seen in iron and steel, aerospace, rubber products, paper, structural panels, and printing,”ACC says.
On a year-on-year (YOY) basis, US chemical production was down 4.2%, the eighteenth consecutive month of YOY decline, according to ACC. However, YOY declines have moderated in recent months.
As MRC reported earlier, chemical production is rebuilding momentum after shocks linked to the global COVID-19 pandemic, according to ACC Year-End 2020 Chemical Industry Situation and Outlook. US chemical production volume excluding pharmaceuticals is expected to fall by 3.6% in 2020 followed by growth of 3.9% in 2021. The US decline is the sharpest since 2008 and 2009, during the financial crisis. Global chemical volumes are expected to fall 2.6% in 2020, the largest drop in at least 40 years, followed by a 3.9% rebound next year. ACC estimates a 7.8% drop in activity from peak-to-trough in headline global production, from December 2019 lasting until roughly June 2020.
We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in October 2020 by 7.2% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals grew in the first ten months of 2020 by 6.3% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-October output. October production of polymers in primary form grew to 857,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in September. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 8,340,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17% year on year.
