German chemical sector mood worsens, with war-driven demand boost seen fading, Ifo says

BASF SE

28/05/2026 06:30

May 28 (Reuters) - Business confidence in Germany's chemical industry worsened in May, as the Iran war-related upturn in demand provided only a short-lived relief for the sector, an Ifo survey showed on Thursday.
The Ifo Institute's index for sector confidence dropped to -30.2 points from a seasonally adjusted -28.6 points in April, while industry expectations continued to decline, sliding to -42.0 points from -31.3.
"Companies view the current uptick in business as temporary," Ifo industry expert Anna Wolf said.
Demand for chemical products has risen amid global supply chain concerns, but shortages of intermediate goods continue to strain supply, driving a sharp increase in prices.
The indicator for monthly price development climbed to 47.5 points from 32.5 points in April.
Even as prices rise and demand improves, companies are planning to scale back production and implement further job cuts, as the core structural problems of the sector remain unresolved, Wolf added.

(Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova and Amir Orusov in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
((Anastasiia.Kozlova@thomsonreuters.com; Amir.Orusov@thomsonreuters.com))