Index jumps with strong demand
By Staff -- Purchasing, 7/13/2000 2:00:00 AM
Though most buyers forecast flattening prices last month, Purchasing's index of chemicals made another substantial jump in June to 120.02 points, up from 112.30 last month. According to buyers' forecasts, the index should fall off in coming months to a little more than 115 points by fourth quarter 2000.
While most chemical indexes fell in May, prices for many chemicals surged in June. The largest increases were seen in aromatics (up 18.87 points) and solvents chemicals (up 16.52 points). Paper chemicals and inorganic chemicals indexes were also strong this month (up 13.91 points and 9.79 points, respectively, compared to May).
Showing smaller gains were the aliphatics chemicals index (up 6.97 points), the polymer resins index (up 5.15 points), and the coatings index (up 4.12 points).
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