Understanding the Export-Import Balance

摘要

In the April issue of CEP, we examined trends leading to an improvement in the chemical industry's trade deficit, from 7.3 billion in 2006 to 1.0 billion in 2007. This reduction reflects direct trade in chemistry. Beyond this direct trade, the potential output of the chemical industry is also affected by the trade performance of downstream customer industries. The products and services of chemistry arc converted into thousands of manufactured consumer and industrial products. Many of these downstream products have also experienced declining trade balances in recent years. To the extent that there are changes in the trade of downstream goods that contain chemistry, the entire chemical industry is affected.