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 Fed’s decision to maintain the current 5.0% - 5.25% target for the Fed funds interest rate target could slow the U.S. economy’s adjustment towards the Fed’s 2.0% inflation target.
• While headline inflation has decreased for 11 consecutive months, it remains elevated at 4.1% in May.
• Housing starts increased 291,000 units in May – the highest monthly increase since the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Automobile and light truck sales totaled 15.1 million units, on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis, in May 2023 increasing 19.6% from May 2022.
• The average weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory employees in manufacturing held steady at 40.7 hours in April and May but were lower than the 41.7 hours recorded a year earlier.

• The Industrial Production Index for plastics materials and resin manufacturing decreased by 7.5% in May compared to the same month of the previous year.
• The capacity utilization for plastics and rubber products manufacturing remained around 78.0% from January through May, indicating production slack compared to the higher capacity utilization of 83.0% and higher from January through October of the previous year.
• The value of U.S. imports of plastics products amounted to $12.7 billion year to date, ending April 2023, which represents a 17.5% decrease compared to the same period in the previous year.
• The Producer Price Index for plastic working machinery, excluding parts, increased by 2.4% in May compared to the same month of the previous year.
• The Producer Price Index for plastics bottles experienced a modest increase of 0.4% in May, which represents a continuation of a downward year-on-year trend that has been observed since January 2022.

For the latest plastics industry data visit: https://www.plasticsindustry.org/data

Perc Pineda, PhD, Chief Economist of PLASTICS will be speaking at the Association of Rotational Molders 2023 Annual Meeting (September 26-28, 2023, Kansas City, Mo).

Perc Pineda, PhD, Chief Economist of PLASTICS will be presenting “Perspectivas de la Industrial del Plástico: Papel de la Technología” at Plastics Innovation Summit – a virtual event in July in Mexico. The presentation provides plastics industry outlook and trends and promotes NPE 2024 in Mexico and Latin America.

Perc Pineda, PhD, Chief Economist of PLASTICS will be speaking at the Shibaura Machine Tech Days Open House (September 26-27, 2023, Elk Grove, IL).

The Q2 2023 edition of the Plastics Quarterly – the only economic and industry forecast that covers the entire plastics manufacturing supply chain and its end-markets will be released on July 7, 2023. It is an exclusive PLASTICS’ membership benefit not to be missed.

PLASTICS White Paper on “Covid-19 and Plastics Industry Employment: An Assessment”

Plastics Industry Employment: Interpreting the Monthly Noise

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For speaking engagement inquiries, please contact: ppineda@plasticsindustry.org