Spain chems growth to slow in 2020 on Brexit, trade war

The inconclusive Brexit process and global trade woes will eat into Spain’s 2020 chemicals sales by almost half a percentage point , the country’s trade group FEIQUE said on Monday.

The group expects sales in 2020 to grow by 1.9%, year on year, sharply down from an increase of 2.3% expected for this year, compared to 2018.

Sales in 2019 will surpass the €67bn figure mark, said FEIQUE, expecting the 2020 figure to stand at around €68.4bn.

While still far from the almost €200bn in sales achieved by Germany’s chemicals industry in 2018, for example, Spain’s chemicals have made it into the top five chemicals producers in the EU.

Spain’s chemicals have been one of the bright manufacturing spots after the financial crisis that greatly affected the country once an inflated housing market crashed, leaving businesses and households with large amounts of debt.

However, positive trends in overseas markets, and a domestic recovery as of late, have made Spanish chemicals 18.4% larger than they were in 2007, pre-crisis.

General industrial output in the country, however, is still 19% smaller than pre-crisis.

Moreover, while most of the Spanish chemicals output remained in the domestic market in 2007, by 2019 around 58% of output was exported, mostly to EU countries.

Spain chemicals sales, in million

Spain chemicals exports, in million