CMCI shows fibres as the only end-use positive on all indicators

LONDON (ICIS)–European fibres and clothing are the only major end-use chemical sectors which are positive over the full range of confidence indicators, analysis of the May ICIS Chemical Market Confidence Index (CMCI) showed on Friday.

Fibres and clothing markets strongly believe that business conditions, order book volumes and profitability have improved in the past 12 months and will continue to improve over the next 12 months.

Fibre markets are particularly bullish on order volumes, but are also the most bullish of all end-use sectors on future profitability.

Fibre markets demand in recent months has been boosted by rising natural fibre prices, which have alleviated some competition in the market, and allowed some sectors such as acrylic fibre, to increase sales.

Nevertheless, the data hides significant differences in profitability between constituent markets. The six-month rolling average spread between nylon and captolactam (capro), for example, hit a five-year low in April.

The newly established ICIS Europe CMCI aggregates sentiment from hundreds of petrochemical market players actively involved in price negotiations across more than 60 different markets.

The Europe CMCI runs from +100, to -100, with zero on each index representing neutral, or uncertain conditions, a negative score indicating bearish expectations and a positive score representing bullish expectations. The indexes also gather sentiment on the comparison between the current situation and the situation across the past 12 months to give a complete picture of current market conditions and confidence. The information is gathered in the third week of each month.  A full methodology is available on request.

For more details on the overall Europe CMCI data, click here