European packaging sentiment more positive in August – CMCI

Chris Barker

24-Aug-2016

LONDON (ICIS)–Sentiment in European packaging industry-linked chemical markets was more positive in August after a downward trend in July, according to ICIS chemical markets confidence index (CMCI) data on Wednesday.

Whilst order book volumes, business conditions and profitability expectations remained in negative territory overall there was a significant upward swing in the majority of indicators, with profitability showing the most upbeat trend in both long and short term forecasts.

The exception was the 12-month outlook for business conditions, which was down month-on-month.

In general, the long-term forecasts saw less of an upward swing than short-term business conditions, with profitability and order book expectations also rising by less than short-term conditions.

This is consistent with the overall CMCI index, which showed a positive short-term trend but a less rosy 12-month outlook due to economic uncertainty in the Eurozone.

The upswing in short-term trends was due in part to more encouraging economic data from the UK in July, which eased some fears for the country’s economy following the vote to exit the EU in June.

However, the outlook for major European economies like Italy and Greece is still negative and factors like the volatile crude oil price and uncertainty surrounding the UK’s ultimate relationship to the single market in Europe have continued to weigh on long-term market expectations.  

The packaging CMCI index tracks sentiment in the following markets: Bisphenol A (BPA), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), paraffin wax and recycled PET.

CMCI change May to August

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 indices 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

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