Europe construction chems sector confidence mostly weaker in June – CMCI

LONDON (ICIS)–Sentiment in the European construction chemicals market was mostly down in June from the previous month although most indicators remained positive, analysis of the latest ICIS Europe Chemical Markets Confidence Index (CMCI) showed on Wednesday.

The only indicator in minus territory was current profitability, down 13.7 points from the May index which was also negative. Profitability expectations over the next year were up on last month’s index.

Current and future business conditions were both lower, the former only marginally but the latter rather sharply.

Order book volumes were more positive compared to 12 months ago than in May while the same over the next 12 months was down slightly from last month.

It is unclear what role the so-called Brexit vote played with the June figures as the index was collated in the week preceding and in the immediate aftermath of the vote.

Although it is likely that it played a role for some players’ views on current and future conditions at the end of the week, it is too early to see the full manifestation of the impact.

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