Propylene chain confidence hit by broad fall in Oct – CMCI

LONDON (ICIS)–European propylene chain confidence fell broadly in October, analysis of the ICIS Chemical Market Confidence Index (CMCI) showed on Friday.

Nevertheless, the October CMCI saw a slight increase in expectations of profitability growth in the next twelve months compared with the September CMCI.

Confidence in current and future business conditions, and current order book volumes compared with twelve months ago was at its lowest level since ICIS began compiling the index in May 2016.

The drop in confidence mirrors a broad fall in confidence for the wider chemicals industry.

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