The Ceresana Industry Monitor autumn survey reveals an optimistic business climate in highly competitive markets. Growing competition and considerable increases in research and development expenditures will dominate global chemical markets during the next months.

Chemical Industry Still on Track for Growth

In spite of macro-economically uncertain times and the gloomy mood in many other industrial sectors, the chemical and plastic industries are optimistic about the last quarter 2011. About 40% of the participants in the Ceresana Industry Monitor (CIM) assessed their business situation in September as good. Only 10% evaluated their business situation as poor. Large companies (turnover of more than €500 million) assessed their situation more often as good than small companies.

Almost one quarter of all surveyed companies anticipated their business situation will change for the worse over the next six to 12 months. In contrast, more than 43% expect an improvement. Petrochemical and manufacturers of plastics and elastomers have particularly positive expectations.

There is no evidence of a downturn in the chemical industry: Almost 80% of those companies that evaluated their current business situation as good did not expect this will change for the worse. Despite a uniformly positive mood, there are considerable regional differences in the assessment of business situation and outlook. For example, the business situation in Asia is expected to see particularly positive development.

Increase in Staff Expenses

Nearly 60% of all companies surveyed expected demand for their products to rise over the next months. This is why the positive outlook for employees it is not surprising: 35% of the respondents want to increase staff expenses; only 14% plan cutbacks. A satisfying end of the year seems to be around the corner.

Innovations And Cooperations

The chemical industry shows its green side: Numerous decision-makers regard renewable energies as a profitable and promising business. Chemical companies evaluated the field of transport and mobility as important as environmental protection when asked about their most important future markets.

R&D is of outstanding importance for chemical companies. However, the autumn survey results revealed that more companies are willing to increase their marketing expenses than R&D expenditures. Universities are not the only sought-after R&D cooperation partners. Plastic processors have also often established R&D cooperation agreements with clients.

CIM Barometer Measures 12.6 Points

The CIM Barometer reflects the current business climate of the surveyed chemical and plastic companies at a glance. The present business situation achieves 14.9 points; expectations register 10.2 points. The resulting business climate is at 12.6 points. We expect the chemical industry - which is still in a very good state - will experience a slight cooling-off.

Business situation, expectations, and the resulting barometer (business climate) are shown on a scale from -50 to +50. Positive figures indicate a good business climate; figures below 0 points suggest a downturn is ahead.