Indian Summer for the Chemical Industry

Nov. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Our 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. 40% of the participants in the Ceresana Industry Monitor (CIM) asses their business situation in September as good. Only 10% evaluate their business situation as poor. Large companies (turnover of more than €500 million) assess their situation more often as good than small companies.
Almost one quarter of all surveyed companies anticipate their business situation will change for the worse over the next 6 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 which evaluated their current business situation as good do 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 surveyed companies expect demand for their products will 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 evaluate the field of transport & mobility as important as environmental protection when asked about their most important future markets.
Research & development (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.
http://www.ceresana.com/en/cim/

Ceresana Industry Monitor – Methodology
The CIM analyzes the business climate of the global chemical and plastic industry. Individuals selected from a pool of more than 18,000 companies are asked to participate in our surveys every three months. The survey was answered by decision-makers from 40 countries.
In order to provide a representative overall picture, companies and associations of all sizes were asked about their current business situation, expectations, and evaluations. This allows for detecting future market trends but also opportunities and challenges on time.

The detailed results can be obtained exclusively from Ceresana Research. The results offer a general overview of the chemical industry as well as detailed analyses of four industrial sectors: Petrochemical, plastic & elastomer manufacturers, plastic & elastomer processors, specialty & fine chemistry as well as paints, varnishes & adhesives. Survey participants will get these in-depths reports for free.


More information:
Ceresana Research
Technologiezentrum, Blarerstr. 56, 78462 Konstanz, Germany
Tel.: +49 7531 94293 12, Fax: +49 7531 94293 27
Public relations: Sandra Schulze, B.A., s.schulze@ceresana.com

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About Ceresana Research
Ceresana Research is one of the world's leading industrial market research institutions. Companies, institutions, and associations from more than 55 countries have already profited from the global market data and well-founded prognoses. The core competencies include chemicals, plastics ,additives, commodities, materials, industrial components, packaging, construction materials.
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