The chemicals sector in Germany expects to report continued growth next year but at a slower rate than this year, which beat expectations, the VCI industry federation said on Dec. 7.
"The sector is looking to next year with optimism, but the growth rates seen this year won't be repeated," VCI chief Werner Wenning, who is chairman of the pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant Bayer.
Chemical makers in Germany are expected to boost output by 6% this year. And with higher selling prices, sales were expected to rise by 7% to 152 billion euros (US$179 billion), VCI predicted. That was much better than expected -- in September, VCI had been predicting output growth of 2.0-2.5% and sales growth of 3.5%.
For 2006, VCI is forecasting growth of 2.5% and 3.5% respectively.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005
