According to data collated by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), global chemical production rose 1.9% in November 2020, up from a 1.7% increase in October and the sixth straight month of growth starting in June. Chemical production rose in November in all regions of the world except Russia and surrounding regions. On a 3-month moving average basis, global chemical production in November was up 3.7% from a year earlier and 2.9% from its pre-pandemic peak in December 2019.

In November, global chemical production capacity rose 0.1% month-on-month and 2.2% year-on-year. Capacity utilisation in the global chemical industry rose 1.5 percentage points to 82.9% as output increased. This is up from 81.7% in October and the pre-outbreak peak in December 2019, but below the average capacity utilization rate of 86.5% for the 1987-2017 period.

In each segment of the chemical industry, November results were positive, with production growth in all segments. However, compared with the same period last year, the production of most of the segmented industries increased, including plastic resins, synthetic rubber, man-made fibers, bulk petrochemical products and organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, other specialty products, agricultural chemicals and consumption chemicals production increased, but the production of paint industry contracted.