You can access the Chemicals Monthly Briefing prepared by Dr Moncef HADHRI, Economic Affairs Manager at Cefic here.

The key findings are;

• Oil prices were 3.8% higher than the previous year (Jan-Aug).
• European natural gas prices were 3.9 times higher than in the USA (Jan-Aug)
• EU27 chemical prices were 5.7% lower than the previous year (Jan-July).
• Chemical output was 3.6% higher than the previous year (Jan – July).
• Chemical production growth was uneven across EU27 countries over the same period (Jan-Jul 2024), with Germany, Belgium, and Spain seeing moderate increases, while Greece and Poland experienced double-digit growth.
• The volume of chemical exports rose by 8% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year. The biggest increases in exports outside the EU27 are attributable to Morocco (basic inorganics), UK (petrochemicals) and Turkey (polymers).
• The volume of chemical imports rose by 3% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year. The three largest increases in EU27 imports are attributable to UK (petrochemicals), Turkey (petrochemicals), Morocco (basic inorganics).
• Global chemical production grew by 6.1%, driven largely by China (Jan-July 2024), vs 2.7% last year (same period). 

You can also acces the extended Chemicals Monthly Report (CMR) here.