Optimism recedes among chemical and plastics companies

Fewer members of the chemicals and plastics industry are optimistic about their current business situation as problems in Europe continue to hinder global trade, according to a new survey.

The Ceresana Industry Monitor (CIM) midsummer survey was carried out from 2 July to 15 July and involved companies from 41 countries.

According to the results, 30% of the companies interviewed rated their current business situation as good, showing a dampening in optimism compared to the spring results, when 40% of businesses were positive about trading.

Ceresana says the banking crisis in the EU and the recession in southern Europe means the region is no longer a strong sales market for foreign produce.

Most of the workforce cutbacks will take place in Europe, with 26.7% of companies in western Europe and 15.8% in eastern Europe saying they expect to reduce staff numbers.

However, Europe is not the only region in difficulty as the US also saw its economic development decline.

The survey also looked at funding and asked companies how they rate opportunities for obtaining loans from credit institutes. A quarter said opportunities are ‘good’, 29% said ‘poor’ and one third said they were satisfied with the situation.

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