(Reuters circulated the following article on September 7.)
NEW YORK — Chemical shipments on U.S. railroads nudged higher last week, according to data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) on Thursday.
Chemical shipments on trains, called rail car loadings, are a key measure of demand for products ranging from plastics to fertilizers.
For the week ended Sept. 2, rail car loadings of chemicals totaled 31,160, up 0.4 percent from a year earlier.
The slight rise in shipments followed a year-on-year fall of 4.7 percent in the prior week and a 1-percent increase the week before that.
Rail shipments often provide an early glimpse of broader trends for both the chemical industry and manufacturing, according to analysts.
Comparisons to last year will become easier in the coming months because farm chemical demand is fading with the end of the North American growing season, analysts have said.
In the first half of this year, farm chemical demand was much weaker versus 2005 because record energy prices pushed up costs for farmers.
Chemical demand in the second half of 2006 could be much higher since damage from hurricanes suppressed demand last summer, analysts have said.
Still, rail car loadings year-to-date were 1.04 million, down two percent from levels a year ago, according to the weekly data from AAR, a leading railroad trade association.
Rail car loadings represent about 21 percent of chemical volumes by tonnage. Trucks, barges and pipelines carry the rest.