|
MOSCOW (MRC) -- The American Chemistry
Council (ACC) reported that with continued recovery in the U.S. economy,
specialty chemicals market volumes increased by 3.6 percent in June, an
improvement from the revised 1.2 percent gain in May and the record 12.6 percent
decline in April, said Americanchemistry.
Of
the 28 specialty chemical segments that ACC monitors, 25 expanded in June, an
improvement from the expansion in 22 segments in May and the decline across all
segments in April. On a sequential basis, diffusion was 89 percent, an
improvement from 79 percent in May and 0 percent in April. In June, 23 segments
featured gains of more than 1.0 percent.
During June, overall specialty
chemicals volumes were off 11.7 percent on a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis. Volumes
stood at 99.0 percent of their average 2012 levels in June. This is equivalent
to 6.74 billion pounds (3.06 million metric tons). On a Y/Y basis, gains
occurred in only cosmetic additives, electronic chemicals, and flavors and
fragrances. On a Y/Y basis, diffusion was 12 percent, an improvement from May
and April but sharply lower than at the start of the year.
Specialty
chemicals are materials manufactured on the basis of the unique performance or
function and provide a wide variety of effects on which many other sectors and
end-use products rely. They can be individual molecules or mixtures of
molecules, known as formulations. The physical and chemical characteristics of
the single molecule or mixtures along with the composition of the mixtures
influence the performance end product. Individual market sectors that rely on
such products include automobile, aerospace, agriculture, cosmetics and food,
among others.
Specialty chemicals differ from commodity chemicals.
Specialties may only have one or two uses, whereas commodities may have multiple
or different applications for each chemical. Commodity chemicals comprise most
of the production volume in the global marketplace, while specialty chemicals
make up most of the diversity in commerce at any given time and are relatively
high value, with greater market growth rates.
This data set is the only
timely source of market trends for 28 market and functional specialty chemical
segments. Chemistry directly touches over 96 percent of all manufactured goods,
and trends in these specialty chemical segments provide a detailed view of
trends in manufacturing. The data also shed light on how various consumer
end-use markets are performing compared to others in the marketplace.
As
MRC informed
earlier, Russia's output of chemical products rose in June 2020 by 2.6% year
on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 4.9%
in the first six months of 2020. According to the Federal State Statistics
Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the
greatest increase in the output in January-June. Production of benzene was
106,000 tonnes in June 2020, compared to 110,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall
output of this product reached 721,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 3.9%
year on year. |
