Standard & Poor's pointed out that due to moderate economic growth, product price increases to offset high energy costs and the lack of new capacity, the North American chemical market outlook is still promising this year.
Dow Chemical hit a record high in sales revenue and profit in 2005. Standard & Poor's credits the company's outstanding performance to its global strategy, product diversification strategy, and product supply-demand balance strategy. However, the performance of DuPont, another major chemical company in the United States, was disappointing. This result was mainly due to three reasons: raw material costs rose sharply, unexpected shutdown of titanium dioxide plants and weak market demand for crop protection products.
Standard & Poor's said that in the fourth quarter of last year, American Chemical Company's credit rating averaged "BB+". Most chemical companies have withstood the negative impact of the substantial increase in the cost of raw materials. In 2005, the profitability was higher than in the previous year.
Deutsche Bank Securities analysts believe that due to the lack of new capacity, the operating rate of the equipment still tends to be high, so the environment of North American Chemical Industry before 2007 is still relatively good. However, with the increase of new production capacity in the Middle East from 2008 onwards, global industries will be in a downward avenue, and the competitive pressure of US chemical producers will increase.
US chemical industry output continues to grow
The latest report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) shows that during the first month of the New Year, the production of chemicals in the United States increased for the second consecutive month. Except for the Southeast and Gulf Coast that were still affected by the hurricanes last year, the production of chemicals in other regions was higher than the same period of last year. The growth. In January, the production of chemicals in the northeastern United States increased by 2.3% over the same period of last year, while the production in the Gulf Coast decreased by 4.6%.