The German chemical industry now is impacted by the debt and banking crisis in the EU, acording to the association of the German chemical industry (VCI). Chemical production in the 1st half 2012 was roughly 4 % below the level of the previous year.
Sales fell only slightly (0.5 % and a totalled 89.2 billion EUR). This is due to higher raw material costs which led to a price increase by ca. 3 % for chemical-pharmaceutical products in the 1st half 2012.
Sentiment in Germany’s third largest industry is much less optimistic than in early 2012. But investment and employment numbers are expected to increase and the VCI assumes that production 2012 will return to the high level of 2011 in the further course of the present year. For 2012 as a whole, the VCI is expecting chemical industry sales to increase by 2 %.
Another topic is worring the German chemical industry. The new Brussels administrative decisions on energy efficiency obliges energy suppliers to reduce the amounts of energy they provide for industry until 2020 every year. VCI’s president Dr. Klaus Engel criticizes this as it leads to a planned economy, with less energy being available for chemical companies. These requirements from Brussels could seriously slow down growth, especially for chemistry in Germany which has been improving energy efficiency for many years.
With the existing high efficiency level in energy consumption in the German chemical industry, effectiveness, lifespan and recyclability are decisive points in the product lifecycle and will become ever more important in product development.
Image: Chemical Production in Germany © VCI
Index 2005 = 100, seasonally adjusted, changes to previous year in %
brown: change; blue: index; orange: annual average
