Growth returns in Germany

Germany's chemical industry appears to be growing again for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Production in the first quarter of the year rose 4.4%, though prices were down 5.6% compared with the year-earlier period, according to Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI), Germany's leading chemical industry association. "We are now looking to the future with a little more optimism because the growth prospects are slowly brightening," VCI president Markus Steilemann says in a press release. VCI forecasts 3.5% growth in production and a 1.5% sales rise for 2024. But he warns that the sector needs more government support to ensure its sustained recovery. Even if demand is increasing, orders remain weak overall, especially domestically, he adds. "Germany is and will remain too expensive as a business location and only politics can change that," Steilemann says. Meanwhile, the Ifo Institute, a German economic research organization, says that it surveyed the