Chemicals made in Germany are currently as demanded as never before. This fact is revealed by the latest report filed by the German Confederation of the Chemical Industry (VCI) on the economic situation of this line of industry. Thus, the German chemical industry has been on the upswing for two quarters and increased its production as compared to the first quarter and generated a record turnover.
The confederation expects this development to continue in the second half of 2007 and forecasts annual production growth to amount to about 4% while turnover generated by the chemical industry as a whole could increase by 7.5%.
As compared to the period from January to March 2007 production in the chemical industry increased by 1% in the second quarter this year thereby surpassing last year’s growth in the same period by 6.2%. In particular manufacturers of pharmaceuticals were able to increase their production considerably, reported the VCI. Production capacity in the chemical industry was used to almost 87%.
In the second quarter of 2007 prices for chemical products increased on average by 0.6% as compared to the first three months of 2007. Compared to last year prices rose by 2.2%. According to the VCI, the main reason for this increase were higher crude oil prices in the second quarter. The VCI does not expect any changes of the price situation in the third quarter.
Turnover of the German chemical industry amounted to 42.2 billion Euros in the second quarter which is a new quarterly turnover record and an increase by 0.7% as compared to the previous quarter and by 9.4% as compared to the same period last year. This increased turnover was due to more sales both domestic and abroad.
This positive development of the German chemical industry also affected the labour market. In the period from April to June 2007 German chemical enterprises employed about 436.000 people which is an increase by 0.6% as compared to the second quarter in 2006. 