Chemical Production Increased in September

The Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) trended higher by 0.6% in September, following a revised 0.6% gain in August, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC). In the US alone, the US Chemical Production Regional Index (US CPRI) was flat in September, following a 0.8% gain in August. 

“In September, chemical production increased in all regions with South America recording the strongest gain,” said Martha Moore, ACC’s chief economist. “Even though global production was higher on a year-over-year basis, North America and Europe exhibited some weakness as production trended somewhat below last year’s level.”

“In the US, restocking activity for basic chemicals and synthetic materials used in a wide variety of manufactured goods picked up a bit in September, following a prolonged period of destocking. The gain was offset by lower output of specialty chemicals, however," she added.

Key findings

The Global CPRI measures the production volume of the chemical industry for 55 key nations, sub-regions, and regions, all aggregated to the world total. And the US CPRI was developed to track chemical production activity in seven regions of the US.