C&EN: ACC predicts US chemical production output will slow

Via this week's Chemical and Engineering News, this news (article by Michael McCoy) 

The performance of the US chemical industry is likely to disappoint over the next 2 years. Output will fall by 1.6% in 2023, followed by modest growth of 1.2% in 2024, according to a midyear outlook report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC), a trade association.

The ACC’s midyear forecast is more pessimistic than the one late last year, when the council predicted that US chemical output would decline by 1.2% in 2023. Chemical output rose by 2.2% in 2022, the group says, driven by a rebound in spending on goods after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic-driven rebound has subsided, and we expect consumer spending to continue to slow,” Martha Moore, the ACC’s chief economist, says in a press releaseaccompanying the report. “Going into the second half of the year, there is tremendous uncertainty, and the risk of recession remains high.”

The ACC expects US gross domestic product growth, which was 2.1% last year, to slow to 1.3% in 2023 and 0.7% in 2024.

It feels like hiring has continued apace, and I haven't heard too many rumors about layoffs in either the chemical or pharmaceutical sectors. I suppose we'll need to watch the third quarter results fairly closely...