Overview
- The Ifo business climate for chemicals fell to -19.4 in October from -12.0 in September, with both expectations and current assessments worsening.
- Companies rated order backlogs at -68.9, the weakest reading in more than three decades, and report no near-term demand impulses from abroad.
- Capacity utilization dropped to 71 percent versus a ten-year average near 81 percent as many firms cut prices under intensifying foreign competition.
- Sector turnover declined 2.9 percent from January to August, and the VCI expects chemical production to fall about 2 percent in 2025.
- A separate Ifo survey found more than half of chemical firms see eroding competitiveness, and the VCI warns of a looming bureaucracy infarction from Berlin and Brussels.