ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
An uptick in the global economy will help U.S. and European chemical firms expand earnings by an annual rate of 2.5–3.5% over the next 12 to 18 months, according to an analysis by Moody’s, a credit rating firm. Moody’s expects global gross domestic product growth to reach 3.0% in 2014, up from 2.2% in 2013. U.S. firms should perform better than their European counterparts because of low-cost feedstocks from shale gas, with the strongest improvement for makers of ethylene, methanol, and ammonia-based fertilizers. Specialties producers in both the U.S. and Europe will see modest growth, the report notes. In Europe, profitability will hinge on cost-cutting and restructuring. Companies with operations in Ukraine or Russia face risks from regional tensions and Western sanctions. In China, GDP growth is expected to slow to a “still healthy” 7.0% in 2014, compared with 7.7% in 2012 and 2013. A further slowing of that growth, however, would “present a meaningful risk to [the] forecast because China is the world’s second-largest economy, the largest contributor to global GDP growth, and a large consumer of chemicals,” the report cautions. Meanwhile, Moody’s says activist investors will continue to target U.S. chemical makers for share buybacks and divestments.
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on X