Two databases, the World Bank’s database on countries (click
here to go to the data on Malaysia) and the International Trade Center’s database
on country exports and imports (click here to go to this database) were used to
generate data on ASEAN country chemical production.
Using the World Bank’s database, the value added in the manufacture
of chemicals for each ASEAN country could be determined. (Value added is the sales price of the chemical
manufactured less the direct cost to make the chemical sold.) The total
value added for manufactured chemicals, for each country, is shown in Table
1. (Insufficient data is available for
Laos and Myanmar to determine their value added amounts.) The value added of chemicals manufactured was
computed by multiplying the value added for all manufactured products by the percentage
of these products that are chemical products (the sets of data that are provided
in the database).
The percentage of value added chemical manufactured to a country’s
gross domestic product (GDP) (given in Table 1) should be an indicator of the country’s
amount of chemical production activity relative to other ASEAN countries.
|
Table 1 country
|
value added in
manufacturing (in billion usd)
|
% chemical
manufacturing value added
|
value added chemicals
manufacturing (in billion usd)
|
gross domestic product
(GDP) (in billion usd)
|
value added chemical
manufacturing as % GDP
|
|
singapore
|
$53.5
|
29%
|
$15.3
|
$307.9
|
5.0%
|
|
indonesia
|
$194.3
|
14%
|
$26.2
|
$888.5
|
3.0%
|
|
malaysia
|
$77.4
|
12%
|
$8.9
|
$338.0
|
2.6%
|
|
vietnam
|
$71.7
|
6%
|
$3.9
|
$186.2
|
2.1%
|
|
cambodia
|
$2.6
|
13%
|
$0.3
|
$16.8
|
1.9%
|
|
thailand
|
$67.3
|
7%
|
$4.4
|
$404.8
|
1.1%
|
|
phillippines
|
$39.7
|
6%
|
$2.2
|
$284.8
|
0.8%
|
Using the International Trade Center’s country database, the
total chemical products exported and imported for each country could be found and
from this data the net chemical exports could be determined (shown in Table
2). (Chemcial products include: inorganic
products; organic products; and miscellaneous chemical preducts.) Presumably, the size of the net chemical exports
is an indicator of the sufficiency of a country’s chemical production capacity,
e.g., the more the net export amount the greater the sufficiency. And, computing the net chemical export
amounts for each country as a percentage of the GDP should show that sufficiency
compared to the other ASEAN countries.
|
Table 2 country
|
total chemical exports
(in billion usd)
|
total chemical imports
(in billion usd)
|
net chemical exports
(in billion usd
|
gross domestic product
(GDP) (in billion usd)
|
net chemical exports
as % GDP
|
|
singapore
|
$23.2
|
$12.7
|
$10.5
|
$307.9
|
3.4%
|
|
malaysia
|
$7.8
|
$7.5
|
$0.3
|
$338.0
|
0.1%
|
|
indonesia
|
$7.8
|
$8.9
|
-$1.1
|
$888.5
|
-0.1%
|
|
phillippines
|
$1.4
|
$2.0
|
-$0.6
|
$284.8
|
-0.2%
|
|
laos
|
$0.2
|
$0.9
|
-$0.7
|
$12.0
|
-0.5%
|
|
myanmar
|
$0.2
|
$0.4
|
-$0.2
|
$64.3
|
-0.6%
|
|
thailand
|
$5.4
|
$8.6
|
-$3.2
|
$404.8
|
-0.8%
|
|
cambodia
|
$0.0
|
$0.2
|
-$0.2
|
$16.8
|
-1.1%
|
|
vietnam
|
$1.5
|
$5.8
|
-$4.3
|
$186.2
|
-2.3%
|
The data in Tables 1 sand 2 suggest that Singapore is the most
impressive chemical producer (in terms of value) of the ASEAN countries and Singapore
and Malaysia are the only two countries producing and exporting more chemicals than
are needed internally.
Another possible interesting conclusion from the data in Table
2 is that those countries with the highest negative net chemical exports as a
percentage of GDP are the countries most in need of chemical purchases from other
countries.
