The chlor-alkali sector is uniquely positioned to act as a litmus test for the global economy, making its ripples around trade indicative of what is to come elsewhere in the chemicals sector. That’s because its outputs are used in a variety of industries globally. From pulp & paper and alumina production to personal care, construction through PVC and business sectors beyond. With little but negative numbers and disastrous downturns highlighted by bloggers and news outlets since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine just over 15 months ago, any graphical trajectory upwards is cause for celebration, right? Perhaps more a cause célèbre… Still, our data analytics platform OrbiChem360 – which leverages  tens of thousands of datapoints per week from our partner GlobalTradeTracker to illustrate worldwide trade flows – shows that Europe’s caustic soda exports are actually increasing in 2023. The juxtaposition of Q4 2022 rock bottoms – when the subsector was reeling from rocketing en...