EU industry confidence posted a sharp decline which is considered to be the most significant decrease in eight years. Rising protectionism all over the world is negatively impacting the industrial & economic activity. As a result, the output in the automotive sector, a key customer of the EU chemical industry has dropped below the last year’s level.

 

Despite this, Q1 of 2019 was good for the chemical industry with the 1.7% increase of the chemicals output compared to Q4 in 2018. This could be partially due to the steady growth in the EU construction sector which seems to be less affected by the declining activity of most EU manufacturing sectors. The output in the construction sector was 4.6% above the previous year’s level.

 

For more details please see our latest Chemicals Trends Report.