EU27 Chemicals Monthly Briefings Ocak 2023

We present the Chemicals Monthly Briefing Report prepared by Dr Moncef HADHRI, Director of Economic Affairs at Cefic; for your information. (CQR).

06.02.2023

We herein present the Chemicals Monthly Briefing Report prepared by Dr Moncef HADHRI, Economic Affairs Manager at Cefic for your information. (CQR).


The key findings are;


  • Industrial production contracted in major economies across the world.
  • Drewry’s World Container Index remained relatively stable but still far below previous year’s levels.
  • Consumer confidence rather stable in North America and stabilizing in Europe on a very low level.
  • EU27 Economic Sentiment rose for the second time since October 2022.
  • Natural gas prices in Europe deep decline since Aug-22 but still 4.6 time higher than in the US.
  • Natural gas fell by 36% in Dec-22 but still far above 2021’s levels.
  • EU27 chemical selling prices far above historical levels.
  • Managers’ views on order books continued the downward trend prevailing since March-22.
  • The EU27 chemicals stocks of finished products is significantly high.
  • Sectors driving up  the EU27 manufacturing output growth
  • Decoupling of EU27 chemicals from manufacturing since early 2022
  • EU27 Chemicals Output: Deterioration of output in most EU27 countries in 2022
  • EU27 chemicals* sales are far above 2021’s levels but they are only price driven
  • Production* and export flows (volume) are below 2021’s levels (Jan-Oct)
  • EU27 Capacity utilization declined more strongly in chemicals than in manufacturing.
  • EU27 confidence picked up slightly for the second time since Oct-22 driven by a strong uplift in expectation.
  • Chemicals: Europe most impacted by energy crisis than others.
  • Overall chemicals (Nace 20+21): Strong growth in Europe in 2022.
  • The EU27 chemical industry’s competitiveness still at risk


We also present Chemical Monthly Report (CMR) titled as "Decreasing energy prices provide short relief, followed by strong decline in chemicals demand, still sentiment is up."


The key findings:


  • Industrial production contracted in major economies across the world.
  • EU27 Economic Sentiment rose for the second time since October 2022.
  • Chemicals business confidence picked up for the second consecutive month.
  • The level of chemicals stock is close to the level recorded during the covid crisis.
  • Chemicals most impacted but the latest decreasing of energy prices will help.
  • Oil prices declined significantly in December 2022.