You can access the Chemicals Monthly Briefing Report prepared by Dr Moncef HADHRI, Economic Affairs Manager at Cefic here.

The key findings are;

The economic sentiment is slightly down in the EU27 area.

European gas prices in Jan-24: 64% below 2022’s levels.

EU27 chemicals confidence continued to improve.

EU27 automotive output continued to decline since Oct-23, and reached July-2022’s levels.

EU27 construction output showed no momentum at the end of 2023.

Companies continued to be exposed to a significant lack of orders.

Destocking is coming to an end: Most companies believe destocking is mostly complete.

European industrial sectors are still a long way from dynamic growth.

No signs of a rapid and noticeable recovery.

Chemical production continued to decline in many European countries since January 2022.

EU27 chemicals imports in 2023: 16% above 2021’s levels.

EU27 chemicals Exports in 2023: 13% above 2021’s levels.

The EU27 chemicals trade surplus back to 2021’s levels.

Europe’s reliance on non-EU27 imports gives cause for concern.

Europe’s reliance on Chinese chemicals is high in terms of import intensity.

You can also acces the extended Chemical Monthly Report (CMR) titled "The road to recovery requires a bold business plan" here.