Cefic: EU chemicals growth returns in 2014
European chemicals output will contract by 1.0% this year before returning to modest growth of 1.5% in 2014 according to European Chemical Industry Council Cefic. The 2013 figure is lower than the 0.5% slight expansion announced in December 2012, as the economic development to date has been weaker than expected.
The gradual recovery will be founded upon stabilization of industrial production in Europe after two years of weakness. But the European chemicals sector, which generates 1% of the continent’s gross domestic product and which employs 1.2 million, will face tough competition from U.S. producers benefiting from cheap energy and feedstock.
The 1.0% fall in European chemical output during 2013, compared with 2012, will be the second consecutive year of modest output decline. Important industrial markets for European chemicals are continuing to struggle.
Cefic forecasts a return to moderate positive growth for chemicals output in 2014 of 1.5%.
