BERLIN, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The chemical industry in Germany has improved notably in the first half of the year, with sales of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry up 5 percent to 96.9 billion euros (112.4 billion U.S. dollars), a German chemical industry association has said.
The total production gained 1.5 percent as output increased in almost all sectors except petrochemical feedstocks, Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI) said Thursday.
Thanks to good capacity utilization and rising oil prices, manufacturers were able to raise their selling prices by 3.5 percent compared with the previous year, the VCI said.
"The current situation is positive. We are expecting good business both at home and abroad for the second half of 2017," VCI President Kurt Bock said in a statement.
Companies are anticipating stable economic growth well into the coming year, especially for all foreign markets important to the German chemical industry, he added.
In view of the upward trend in Germany's third largest industry, behind the automobile and machine tool makers industries, the VCI has raised its production growth forecast for 2017 by 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent.
With some 1,700 member companies, the VCI is among the three leading industry associations in Germany.
