Chemical Output To Stall In Germany

After declining since May 2011, German chemical output is expected to improve as 2012 progresses, but for the full year it will only match 2011’s output, predicts VCI, Germany’s main chemical industry association. VCI draws its conclusions in part from a report on the fourth quarter of 2011 and the year as a whole. The association found that German chemical output in 2011 rose by 2.2% over 2010. In the last quarter of the year, however, production fell by 2.0% compared with the third quarter. VCI attributes the decline to sovereign debt problems in the European Union. “But now we seem to have reached the trough,” says Utz Tillman, VCI’s director general. “The business situation is getting brighter for chemistry.”