U.S. GDP fell at an annualized rate of 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009, its third consecutive quarterly decline. GDP fell 6.3% in the fourth quarter of 2008, and is now 2.6% below year-ago levels.

The severity of the most recent drop was widely anticipated, but analysts say the data contains some surprises: Consumer spending rose 2.2%, after declining for two quarters; household purchases of durables rose 9.4%, with automobile and household goods purchases increasing substantially compared with the previous quarter; and nondurable spending rose modestly.

On the negative side, the drop in business spending on plant and equipment accelerated. Business purchases of equipment and software fell at an annualized rate of 34%, while outlays on nonresidential structures declined 44%. Total outlays are now 16% below year-ago levels.

Other weak areas of the economy in the fi rst quarter include: the continued drop in consumer spending on new homes and renovations of existing structures; sharp declines in exports and imports; declines in spending by federal and state governments; and a steep run-off in business inventories.

Output in the industrial segment of the economy fell at an annualized rate of 22.4% in the first quarter, after posting an 18% decline in the previous quarter. The manufacturing sector’s production output fell about 15% from year-ago levels, with durables down 20% and nondurables off 9.5%. Chemical output dropped 10% in the most recent quarter and is down 11% from year-ago levels.

For overall manufacturing, factory usage was 65.8% at the end of the first quarter, compared with 70.9% in the fi nal quarter of 2008. In the chemical industry, capacity utilization was 68.4% in the fi rst quarter, down from 70.3% at the end of the previous quarter.

Total shipments of manufactured products fell 8.25% on an annualized basis in the first quarter, after dropping 13.4% in the fourth quarter of last year. Chemical sales were off 6.1% in the fi rst quarter, fol - lowing a 10.8% drop in the last quarter of 2008.

Total orders dropped 9.6% in the fi rst quarter, with new bookings for durables down 12.6%. Orders for capital goods declined 17.7%, about the same as the 18.9% drop registered in the final quarter of last year. —ARNOLD PEARLMAN

Chemical shipments

(in billions of dollars)

LatestmonthPreviousmonthYearago

$50.24 $51.27 $56.77

Chemicals

$359.95 $364.47 $434.37

All manufacturing

500

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

MAMJ JASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFM ’07 ’08 ’09

Operating rates

Latest month Previous month Year ago 68.4% 68.9% 77.1%

Chemicals

65.8% 66.9% 77.7% All manufacturing

82% 80 78 76 74 72 70 68 66 64

MAMJ JASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFM ’07 ’08 ’09

Inventory sales ratio

Latest month Previous month Year ago 0.6032 0.5824 0.5796

Finished goods

1.3046 1.2717 1.1931

Total

1. 4

1. 2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

MAMJ JASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFM ’07 ’08 ’09

Chemical trade

(in billions of dollars)

2009 2008

Latest month Previous month todate todate Imports

- 1.1001 - 2.1622 - 3.2623 - 3.7983 Exports

$20

18

16

14

12

10

FMAMJ JASON ’07 ’08

JJASONDJF ’09

KEY CHANGES – VITAL STATISTICS

Akzo Nobel has appointed Pieter Schoehuijs chief information officer. Schoehuijs was previously v.p. and CIO at Church & Dwight.

Perstorp has elected Bo Dankis as chairman. Dankis is president and CEO. Dankis replaces Lennart Holm, who will remain as vice chairman.

BASF has named Margret Suckale head/ global human resources, executive management and development.

Materia has appointed

PIETER SCHOEHUIJS

Timothy McCarthy v.p./ marketing and sales. McCarthy was previously v.p./sales and marketing for Zoltek.

Univar has named Paul Henderson country leader/Switzerland.

Codexis has appointed David Anton, senior

BO DANKIS

v.p./R&D, bioindustrials and pharmaceuticals.

Rhodia has named Henri Poupart-Lafarge to its board of directors. Poupart-Lafarge is CFO of Alstom. He replaces Jérôme Contamine, who has resigned.

Altana has reappointed Martin Babilas to its management board. Babilas is CFO of the company.

Westlake Chemical has elected James Chao and H. John Riley as directors, to serve until 2012.

Quaker Chemical has elected Michael F. Barry chairman of its board. Barry is CEO and president of the company. He replaces Ronald J. Naples, who will remain as a member of the board.

DuPont has named Barry M.Granger v.p. and general manager/government marketing and government affairs. Granger was previously v.p. and general manager for DuPont nonwovens.

Sensient Technologies has appointed Neil Cracknell president and COO. Cracknell was previously president/flavors and fragrances. The company has also named Robert Wilkins an officer of the company. Wilkins is president of Asia/Pacific.