The PERC Report includes monthly highlights on the most recent economic and plastics industry data along with recent activities, articles, and blogs which you may have missed.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Survey of Professional Forecasters predicts that the U.S. economy will experience growth of 2.1% in 2023 and 1.3% in 2024.
Headline and core inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index, have edged up to 3.2% and 4.7% respectively in July.
Automobile and light truck sales have edged up to 15.7 million units in July on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis. Light vehicle production in North America increased 8.0% in June year-over-year.
The U.S. merchandise trade deficit with the rest of the world was $515.7 billion in the first half of 2023, lower than the $609.15 billion over the same period last year.
The Consumer Sentiment Index of the University of Michigan has significantly increased to 72.6 in July from 51.5 in July of the previous year.
Plastics manufacturers in the aerospace end market should continue to benefit from stable production, based on the Industrial Production Index for aerospace products and parts manufacturing, which increased by 4.7% in July year-over-year.
The Industrial Production Index for plastics materials and resin increased by 2.6% in June compared to May, and by 0.6% year-over-year.
U.S. plastics industry exports to China increased by 15.1% to $3.5 billion year-to-date, ending in June 2023. Plastics industry imports from China fell by 24.9% to $6.4 billion over the same period.
Average weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory employees in plastics product manufacturing remained virtually unchanged at 41.5 in June, compared to 41.4 in May and 41.2 in June of the previous year.
The value of manufacturers’ shipments of plastics and rubber products increased by 0.9% in June to $24.7 billion. The value of shipments was down by 2.2% in June year-over-year.
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