Comparing the first fourth months of 2008 to the same period of 2007, chemical sales (excluding pharmaceuticals) grew by 5.4%. The growth rate for April of 2008 was higher by 4.3% compared to April of last year, confirming the continuing positive trend (Data source: Eurostat). (Refer the slides below for more details)

Data (May 2008) shows that Managers in the chemical industry are relatively optimistic regarding their product expectations for the coming months. Their assessment of the recent evolution of demand is improved slightly compared to April. However, the assessment of stocks of finished products remained high. Therefore, the chemicals confidence indicator for the EU reached relatively the same level as in April and is slightly above the long-term average. By contrast, confidence in the manufacturing sector decreased further in May and this is mainly due to the downward trend in the assessment of the recent evolution of demand.