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.
What happened to the Chemical Activity Barometer? It hasn't been updated since August 2021
ReplyDeleteI suspect part of the answer is that Kevin Swift no longer works at ACC.
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