Economy
The chemical industry faces a record year
The pharmaceutical industry is a strong pillar of the industry. Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The chemical and pharmaceutical industry is heading for a record year. But rapidly rising prices for electricity and gas are causing problems for the industry.
Despite a slowdown in business, the German chemical and pharmaceutical industry is facing a record year.
With the worldwide immense demand for corona vaccines and sharply rising chemical prices, she expects sales to jump by 15.5 percent to 220 billion euros in 2021, as the industry association VCI announced in Frankfurt.
With the forecast, which has been increased again, the previous record from 2018 of 203 billion euros in sales is to be exceeded. At the same time, expensive energy and material shortages are increasingly burdening the industrial sector with a good 466,000 employees in this country. The outlook for winter is therefore less optimistic.
Growth cooled in the third quarter
The chemical and pharmaceutical industry recovered rapidly in the first half of the year after the setback in the corona crisis year 2020. Now growth cooled in the third quarter: Bottlenecks in material and logistics as well as high electricity and gas prices dampened production, the chemical plants were only used in the lower normal range, according to the VCI.
For example, some chemical companies have throttled systems for ammonia, for example, because they are currently unable to pass on higher energy prices to customers. Thanks to its strong pharmaceutical footprint, production grew by 0.8 percent in the second quarter.
In the chemical industry alone, on the other hand, production fell slightly, and all areas except petrochemicals posted declines. On the other hand, the industry partially succeeded in passing on sharply rising chemical prices to customers. In addition, industrial customers, especially abroad, ordered more chemical products in order to prevent material bottlenecks and to stock up on stocks. The chemical industry was only able to meet this additional demand in part.
High demand for corona vaccines
The pharmaceutical industry, which is being spurred on by the demand for corona vaccines, for example from the Mainz-based manufacturer Biontech, has once again proven to be a strong pillar for the industry. In the third quarter, sales in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry jumped a good 26 percent year-on-year to 55.3 billion euros. Measured against the second quarter, this meant an increase of 6.3 percent.
Christian Kullmann, President of the Chemical Industry Association (VCI), warned of headwinds for the industry in the coming months. “Neither the shortage of materials nor the high energy costs are in sight of any quick improvement,” said Kullmann. “These factors put a strain on the economy and mean that the chemicals business will cool down further in the coming winter.”