The latest American Chemistry Council report on global production growth makes sombre reading for anyone outside the Middle East:
• Global growth (dark green) is now only 1.4%, versus 4.1% in January
• N American growth (dark blue) declined by 2.4% in August
• European growth (light green) was down 1.5% in July
• Central/Eastern European growth (light blue) went negative in July
• Asian (brown) and Latin American growth (pink) are both falling
By contrast, Middle Eastern growth (purple) is starting to ramp up, as the new plants come on line. Its advantaged cost base on feedstocks means, as suggested recently in our Feedstocks for Profit study, that it can still operate successfully whilst other regions have to cut back.