ACC said that its analysis showed that $202.4 billion in capital spending could lead to $292 billion/year in new chemical and plastics industry output and support 786,000 jobs across the US economy by 2025. These include 79,000 chemical industry jobs, 352,000 positions in supplier industries, and 355,000 jobs in communities where workers spend their wages. Additional, temporary jobs could be created during the capital investment phase, it said.
Robust supplies of NGLs, especially ethane, are key to the US chemical industry’s being able to compete globally, ACC said. NGLs are the main feedstock for basic petrochemicals and plastics in the US, while companies overseas mostly use oil-based naphtha. Since feedstock comprises about 75% of the cost of ethylene production, lower prices favor US chemical manufacturers in the global market, it said.
A note of caution is in order, ACC said. “US manufacturers often rely on inputs that are not available or made [domestically] to create products that cost less yet perform at the high level our downstream customers have come to expect from us. Protectionist trade policies such as tariffs and quotas unnecessarily raise the costs of those inputs, deter innovation and economic growth, and could ultimately weaken our country’s competitive advantage,” it warned.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
