Production plants in the German chemical industry are operating at full gear. In the present year, Germany's third largest industry will achieve new record figures. This much can be said after the initial six months. According to the German chemical industry association VCI, chemical production in the period under review increased by 6.5 percent as compared with the 1st half 2010. The VCI's President Dr. Klaus Engel notes at today's press conference in Frankfurt: „At the present stage, it is perfectly justified to speak of an upswing in our industry.“
Forecast: The VCI is optimistic also for the 2nd half 2011. Engel: “The German chemical industry has well-founded hopes of a further increase in the demand for chemicals at home and abroad.” However, for the overall year 2011 the VCI is expecting a somewhat lower production increase of 5 percent. The underlying reason: expansion is bound to slow down, if only due to the already high capacity utilization of production plants. In the 1st half-year the demand for some chemicals was so strong that production capacities were temporarily insufficient to fully serve customers, so the VCI.
Investment: The optimism of companies about further business developments is also reflected on the investment side. The VCI predicts for 2011 that the German chemical industry will invest some 7 billion euros in Germany; this would be an increase by 10 percent against the previous year.
Sales and prices: From January to June 2011, total sales by the German chemical industry amounted to 90.5 billion euros so that an increase by 12 percent was recorded over the 1st half 2010. Business with customers abroad improved by 13 percent to 54.6 billion euros. Domestic sales of German chemical com¬panies went up by nearly 10.5 percent to 35.9 billion euros. Higher raw material costs forced many companies to raise their prices. Consequently, chemicals and pharmaceuticals were, on average, 5.5 percent costlier than they had been one year earlier. Particularly strong price increases were observed for sectors closely connected with raw materials.
Employment: Now the favourable economic situation is also expressed in personnel policies of companies. In the period from January to June 2011, the number of staff in the German chemical industry averaged 423,000. This was an increase by 2.0 percent against the 1st half 2010. The VCI President thinks that this upward trend in employment is also stimulated by anxiety that the general shortage of skilled personnel could spread to the chemical industry. Engel explains: “For example, so far we have no shortage of well-qualified chemists. But it has already become more difficult for many chemical companies to find suitable school leavers for vocational training positions.” For the years to come, Engel believes that companies will have to increasingly compete for specialists from other fields of natural science, computer experts and engineers – due to demographic developments and assuming that the economy keeps in good shape.
German chemical industry
