Russia chemical imports plunge

It looks like Russia's economy is still in the doldrums. The country imports a lot of non-commodity chemicals as the industry there is not highly specialised.

According to the Kyiv Post, for the first six months of 2009 there was a 37.8% drop in purchases of polymers and rubber; soap and synthetic cleaning materials fell by 24.4%, perfume and cosmetics - 21%, organic and non-organic chemical products - 18.4% and pharmaceutical products - 18.2%.

The low oil price is really hitting this country's economy. I recently interviewed chemical distributors with business in Russia and they were candid about the problems there.