CNI Survey: November US chem trade deficit falls 79%

14 January 2004 16:55  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (CNI)--The US chemicals trade deficit shrunk by 79% in November with only $78m (61m) more imports than exports compared with $364m for the same month of 2002, a CNI survey showed Wednesday.

November's figures show that US chemical exports rose 10% for the month to $7.79bn while imports rose only 6% to $7.86bn, according to data released Wednesday by the US Census Bureau.

The data also show a decline of 43% for November's deficit in organic chemicals, the largest of eight chemical industry categories tracked monthly by the Census Bureau.

In contrast, the November deficit for medicinal chemicals rose 70% with $844m more imports than exports, according to CNI's review of the figures.

Here's a chart comparing the November export and import values for the last two years in millions of dollars as reported by the Census Bureau and compiled by CNI:

PRODUCT	'03 EXP '03 IMP	BALANCE	'02 EXP '02 IMP	BALANCE
cosmetics	542 497	45	501 346	155
dyeing	361 195	166	321 181	140
fertilisers	207 203	4	181 154	27
inorganic chemicals	454 551	-97	484 542	-58
medicinal	1713 2557	-844	1479 1976	-497
organic chemicals	1587 2363	-776	1444 2813	-1369
plastics	1792 992	800	1638 899	739
nonspecific	1130 506	624	999 500	499
TOTALS	7786 7864	-78	7047 7411	-364

By: Gary Taylor
+1 713 525 2653

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