The American Chemistry Council (ACC) recently reported that U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes started the fourth quarter on a healthy note, rising 0.3% in October. This follows a 0.4% gain in September and a 0.6% rise in August. This marks an improvement from the average 0.1% gain in the second quarter but below the average 0.5% gain in the first quarter. In addition, the pace of change has moderated during the last three months. All changes in the data are reported on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis.

The overall specialty chemicals volume index was up 6.1% on a year-over-year (Y/Y) 3MMA basis. The index stood at 114.4% of its average 2012 levels in October. This is equivalent to 7.79 billion lbs (3.54 million metric tons). On a Y/Y basis, there were gains among twenty-two market and functional specialty chemical segments. Compared to last year, volumes were down in six segments.

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