Fact Sheet: US Chemical Industry is the World Leader

Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA)

The US chemical industry is the world's largest, accounting for almost one-fourth of the $1.3 trillion global chemical industry. US Shipments in 1993 were $313 billion.

The chemical industry accounts for 10 percent of all US manufacturing and nearly two percent of the Gross Domestic Product. On a value-added basis chemicals is the largest US manufacturing sector. It is the nation's biggest exporter, providing a positive balance of trade for 1988-1993 of almost $100 billion.

In 1993 the US chemical industry employed 1.1 million people, including 89,000 scientists and engineers working in research and development. The industry underwrote 13 percent of US industrial R&D. Almost 7,000 patents were received in 1991.

The US chemical industry produces more than 70,000 different products, ranging from industrial chemicals to soaps and tofletries, from paints to agricultural chemicals, from plastics and manmade fibers to pharmaceuticals. Member companies of the Chemical Manufacturers Association comprise more than 90 percent of US chemical manufacturing capacity.

From 1988 to 1993, the US chemical industry spent more than $27 billion for pollution abatement, one-fourth of the total spent by the manufacturing sector. This includes $8.4 billion in capital investment. At the same time, the industry invested $190 billion developing new products and processes to stay competitive in world markets and remain a vital contributor to the US economy.

US Chemical Industry ($ billion)

	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993
Shipments	270	278	288	292	301	313
Balance of Trade	12	16	16.8	19.2	16.7	16.5
R&D	10.6	11.4	12.3	14.4	16.7	N/A
Capital Expenditures	16.1		20.6	21.5	23.1	21.8
Environmental Outlays	4.2	4.7	5.8	6.1	6.6	N/A

Environmental Outlays include operating costs and capital investment for pollution abatement. R&D and Capital Expenditures, taken together, total investment in new products and processes.