Slowdown hits European chemicals

Recessions to the East and the West are to hit the chemical industry in Europe, according to CEFIC economists.

Output growth will slow from 4.6 per cent in 2000 to just 1.1 per cent in 2001, the economic panel says, although a slight recovery, to 1.8 per cent, is expected in 2002.

The slowdowns have, as ever, hit the industrial segments of the sector harder than the segments nearer to the consumer. Output of industrial chemicals is actually shrinking, the panel says.

'Excluding pharmaceuticals, chemical growth is actually expected to be -1.1 per cent in 2001, which demonstrates the difficult times for our industry,' comments François Cornélis, chairman of the CEFIC International Trade and Competitiveness Programme Council and chief executive of AtoFina.

The recessions in the US and Japan have hit particularly hard, both in terms of exports and home markets. The collapse in business and consumer confidence following the 11 September atrocities in the US also took its toll. Export trade continued to grow faster than home demand, but export growth was halved, to 4.3 per cent.

Cornélis remains optimistic, however, looking to the enlargement of European markets for salvation.

'Over time, the new World Trade Organisation trade round, the eastward enlargement of the EU, the introduction of the Euro and the continued liberalisation of the EU gas and electricity markets should provide a solid basis to our industry, enabling it to continue playing a leading role in the world as a provider of key technology products,' he says.