CHEMICAL INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: ACC ISSUES INTERIM UPDATE RELATED TO COVID-19

The American Chemistry Council today released an abbreviated, interim update to its Chemical Industry Situation and Outlook. The update offers two scenarios intended to capture a range of potential trajectories for the global and U.S. economies and the chemical industry. “ACC typically updates our economic forecast twice a year, but we wanted to provide an interim update that would reflect some of the potential impacts of COVID-19,” said Kevin Swift, ACC chief economist. “While there is significant uncertainty in the projections, short-term risks are to the downside before a possible rebound in 2021.” According to the update, U.S. chemical volumes are expected to fall 3.3 percent in 2020 before rising 5.2 percent in 2021. Basic chemical volumes will drop 2.9 percent in 2020 before rising 6.7 percent next year. Chemical shipments are expected to fall 10.0 percent in 2020 before rebounding by 7.8 percent in 2021. Anticipated declines reflect struggling end-use markets and export customers for U.S. chemistry products.