VCI doubles objectives for Germany's chemical substance industry in 2021

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Germany's chemical industry association VCI (Frankfurt) has doubled its expectations for 2021, telling it now expects chemical substance development to grow by 3% this year weighed against 2020, with prices likely to surge by 2% and market sales bettering by 5% to just under €200 billion ($239 billion). In December it explained it expected domestic development to go up 1.5% and product sales to improve 2.5% in 2021. The German chemical-pharmaceutical industry as well posted a positive functionality in the fourth one-fourth of 2020, with restoration accelerating compared with previous months because of the growing demand for chemical products in Germany and internationally. VCI notes, even so, that the restoration in the quarter “had not been enough to bring about a positive final result in the gross annual stock-taking for 2020 overall.”

Chemical production in the fourth quarter climbed by 7.4% sequentially and was up 4% on a year-on-time (YOY) basis, with capacity utilization bettering from 81.6% to 85.0%, VCI says. Rates of chemical goods continued to recover and were 0.4% higher than in the third quarter of 2020, but nonetheless 1.7% lower YOY. 

Revenue rose 8.1% sequentially, to €47 billion, supported by the developments in development and pricing, but remained 0.6% below the prior-year quarter, VCI says. The number of jobs in the chemical-pharmaceutical market was secure in the fourth quarter at 464,000.

VCI director-basic Wolfgang Große Entrup says that “if chemical substance business continues to build up positively over the entire year, the symptoms are good for our industry. However, major fluctuations in demand cannot be eliminated.” 

Regarding a VCI membership study, the prospects to get the longer term have turned significantly less optimistic in a few chemical undertakings, with practically every second firm expecting a setback in the first quarter of 2021 due to COVID-19 lockdown extensions. Shortages of products and logistics problems are making things even more difficult for several enterprises, VCI says. 
Source: https://chemweek.com

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