The latest quarterly report released by the European Commission for the Chemical Industry (Cefic) pointed out that the EU chemical production showed signs of recovery in the third quarter. Compared with the continuous decline in the second quarter, production increased by 6.1%.

According to the report, in the first nine months of this year, EU chemical production fell by 4.4% year-on-year, mainly due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe. Cefic said that the EU's overall manufacturing output dropped sharply, down 10.6% year-on-year, of which automobile production fell more than 28%. The price of chemical products in Europe fell by 5.0% year-on-year. The total sales of the chemical industry in the first eight months was 318.2 billion euros (approximately US$379.2 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 9.0%, due to weak domestic demand in Europe and the deterioration of the trade and business environment. In the first eight months of this year, exports of chemicals outside the EU reached 111.7 billion euros, down 5.5% year-on-year, while imports of chemicals from outside the EU dropped 3.9% year-on-year to 86.4 billion euros.