A recent article from the Royal Society of Chemistry notes that the chemical industry in Europe and North America is set to record its biggest declines in output for over two decades during 2008 and 2009, as it struggles with a sharp drop in demand for its products.
Forecasters are expecting that the decrease in chemicals production will be relatively short lived in the key regions of North America, Western Europe and Japan. After diving steeply in the fourth quarter of 2008, output is likely to start to pick up again in the second half of 2009. But it will take much longer before the industry starts to grow at the rate it has in recent years.
To read the full article, click here: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2008/December/15120801.asp