Germany chemical production falls to lowest level since 1995

LONDON (ICIS)–Germany’s chemical production fell 10.6% in 2023, dropping to its lowest level since 1995, the country’s federal statistics agency said in data released on Wednesday.

Total production from industry, energy and construction fell 1.5% from 2022.

Industrial production was down 0.7% year on year, with production in energy-intensive industrial sectors down 10.2%.

Energy production was down 15.0% from 2022 and production in construction was down 0.8%.

DECEMBER
For the month of December, production in energy-intensive industrial sectors fell 5.8% from November, with chemical production down 7.6%.

Production in the automotive sector, however, rose 4.0% month on month.

December 2023 production:

	+/- from November 2023
Total production	-1.6%
Industrial production	-1.5%
-Intermediate goods	-5.2%
-Consumer goods	-0.9%
-Capital goods	1.3%
Energy	4.1%
Construction	-3.4%

Source: Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden

Compared with December 2022, total production from industry, energy and construction was down 3.0%.

Germany’s economic affairs ministry said that there were currently no signs of a trend reversal in industrial production, although the business climate in the manufacturing sector seemed to have stabilized.

A domestically driven recovery could get underway only later in the year, the ministry added.

German chemical producers’ trade group VCI expects a further 1% decline in chemical production (excluding pharmaceuticals) in 2024.

Chemical producer prices rose 11% in 2021 and 26% in 2022 but fell slightly last year in almost all of the industry’s sectors, VCI said.

However, according to VCI’s analysis, producers could not pass on the full extent of increased energy and other costs to their customers.

Please also visit Macroeconomics: Impact on Chemicals.

Thumbnail photo: The Bremerhaven North Sea shipping terminal, Germany. Source Olaf Doering/imageBROKER/Shutterstock)