By: ICN Bureau
Last updated : December 17, 2020 9:37 am
Production drops by 3 percent compared to the previous year, sales by 6 percent
The year 2020 was marked by strong ups and downs in the four quarters for the chemical-pharmaceutical industry. The global corona crisis put a lot of pressure on many companies: Sales in Germany's third largest industry fell by a total of 6 percent to 186.4 billion euros. "The burdens for our member companies are considerable," says Christian Kullmann, President, VCI (German Chemical Industry Association). "At the same time, our industry has been hit less hard than other branches of the economy."
Foreign business in almost all export markets (-6.5%) as well as domestic sales (-5.5%) suffered from the corona-related lack of orders. As a result of the weaker demand, production fell by a total of 3 percent in 2020. All divisions had to accept losses. The range ranged from an only slight decrease in production for pharmaceuticals (-0.5%) to a minus of 6.5 percent for polymers.
Despite the weak chemical industry, the number of employees remained stable at 464,000.
At the end of this year, the demand for chemical products has remained largely stable. At the same time, according to the ifo business survey, the current business situation has also improved. "The mood in our company is now mostly optimistic," says Kullmann. "More than half expect an increase in sales at home and abroad for the next year." For 2021, the VCI is therefore assuming an increase in both production (+ 1.5%) and sales (+ 2.5%). In contrast, the VCI is expecting a slight decline of 1 percent in employment, due to the structural change in the industry, which is being accelerated by the corona crisis.
The current member survey of the VCI also shows that overcoming the crisis will take some time in many companies: only 17 percent of the companies are confident that they will again reach the pre-crisis level this year. 25 percent expect to be able to make up for the decline by the end of 2021. The majority of the companies surveyed - 47 percent - assume that they will not have overcome the crisis until 2022 at the earliest. 11 percent of the companies did not want to commit to this.