Chemical Shipments Fall In January

U .S. chemical shipments fell in January both from the previous month and from January 2006 levels, according to the Commerce Department. The seasonally adjusted data show total U.S. chemical shipments declining 0.2% from December and 2.9% from January a year earlier. Chemicals, excluding pharmaceuticals, led the drop, falling 1.3% from December and 7.5% from the year-earlier month. The lower demand raised the inventories-to-shipments ratio for both total chemicals and chemicals excluding drugs. The ratio for all chemicals in January was 1.22, up slightly from 1.21 in December and from 1.18 in January 2006. Without pharmaceuticals, the ratio was 1.07, up from 1.06 in the previous month and from 1.04 a year earlier.