Monday, April 18, 2022

ACC: Chemical prices rose 1.4% in March

Via the American Chemistry Council: 

Chemical prices (as measured by the producer price index) rose 1.4% in March, the 22nd monthly gain. Chemical prices rose in all categories with the exception of plastic resins, which eased by 0.3% (the fifth monthly decline). The largest gains were in bulk petrochemical and organics and agricultural chemicals. Compared to a year ago, chemical prices were up 18.6% Y/Y, the smallest annual increase since May 2021. 

U.S. chemical imports prices rose 0.7% in March, after advancing 0.9% in February. Chemical imports prices have also risen for 22 consecutive months. Prices for U.S. chemical exports rose 1.6% in March following a 0.1% decline the previous month. Year-over-year comparisons have been high for both import and export prices. In March, chemical import prices were up 13.1% Y/Y and export prices were up 9.3% Y/Y. 

I'm surprised import price increases aren't higher, to be honest. 

2 comments:

  1. What happened to the Chemical Activity Barometer? It hasn't been updated since August 2021

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suspect part of the answer is that Kevin Swift no longer works at ACC.

      Delete

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