Record sales, production above pre-crisis level, higher research spending and more jobs: 2011 was a good year in many respects for the chemical industry in Germany. However, much slower growth is expected for 2012, according to the German chemical industry association (VCI), who expects chemical production in Germany to increase by 1.0 %. Producer prices should rise by ca. 1.0 %. Sales are likely to improve by 2.0 %.
VCI President Dr. Klaus Engel explains at the annual press conference in Francfurt: “It is hard to make exact predictions for the next 12 months. Figuratively speaking, the fog is getting denser; it is more difficult to look ahead.” The unsolved debt crises in the EU and the USA are increasingly causing uncertainty among consumers and companies, with dampening effects on chemical business 2012.
But Engel points to the forthcoming summit in Brussels, where a further package to stabilize the debt crisis and the euro is to be adopted: “We hope that this will make financial markets regain their trust in political actions. This would benefit the real economy, too.”
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Images: ©: VCI
Top: Chemical Production in Germany
Index 2005 = 100, seasonally adjusted, canges to previous year in %
- Verband der Chemischen Industrie e. V. (VCI; German chemical industry association), Frankfurt, Germany
