MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical production in the US increased 0.8% on a sequential basis in September, with output expanding in all regions of the country and in a number of end markets, reported Chemweek.
Chemical production was down 4.3% on a year-on-year (YOY) basis, the sixteenth consecutive month of declines, albeit at a lower rate than in recent months.
“In September, chemical production continued to improve in many segments, including, chlor-alkali, organic chemicals, industrial gases, synthetic dyes and pigments, consumer products, synthetic rubber, manufactured fibers, other specialty chemicals, and fertilizers,” ACC says. “Production eased in plastic resins, coatings, adhesives, and crop protection chemicals.”
The recovery in manufacturing output in the US continued in September, helping boost demand for chemicals. Factory activity rose 1.6% on a 3-month-moving-average (3MMA) basis, with production increasing in nearly all chemical end markets tracked by ACC, including strong gains in motor vehicles, aerospace, iron and steel, and tires.
As MRC wrote previously, US chemical volumes are expected to drop nearly 10% this year as global economic activity contracts due to the impacts of COVID-19, according to the American Chemistry Council's (ACC) Mid-Year 2020 Chemical Industry Situation and Outlook. Volumes should recover in 2021 with a return to pre-COVID-19 output levels in the US by the second half of 2021.
We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in September 2020 by 6.7% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased by 6.1% year on year in the first nine months of 2020, 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-September output. Last month's production of primary polymers decreased to 852,000 tonnes from 888,000 tonnes in August due to shutdowns in Tomsk, Ufa and Kazan. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 7,480,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 16.4% year on year.
MRC