Optimism in the global polyurethane industry grew very slightly between 2013 and 2014, according to the UTImcIndex figure.
In 2014 the index rose slightly from 4.12 in 2013 to 4.21 in 2014. Industry confidence reached a high of 6.6 in 2011, then fell sharply to 2012.
In 2013 the rate of decline slowed and in 2014 it rose slightly. As in 2013, the polyurethane machinery industry is operating with tough trading conditions in a number of global regions in a globally depressed economy.
The UTImcIndex is calculated by counting the number of firms in our survey that say they have specific plans for a course of action such as expansion.
We take the sum of the firms which say they have specific plans and then that divide that by the total number of respondents in the survey.
That number is then multiplied by a factor to account for how positive the action is. Acquisition and building new factories are the most positive and are multiplied by 10. Expansion is multiplied by seven; upgrading, three; consolidation is one and divestment is -10. All of the factors are added together to produce the index.