European Chemical Industry – Current State and Challenges

Abstract

The European chemical industry is one of the major and most important industrial sectors of the Community economy. The present paper aims to present an analysis of its current state and, on this basis, to highlight the main challenges it must address in the coming years. The presentation of the main characteristics of the chemical industry on a global scale, which gives a clearer idea of the state of the industry as a whole also plays an important role in the study. The following main conclusions are drawn from the analysis made. First, an increase in the share of chemical substances and products in the EU’s total exports and imports, which determines the growing importance of the sector to the European Union. Second, the European chemical industry is still lagging behind China on a global scale due to a variety of reasons, including the country’s industrial policy and sector reforms. Third, in the future, the industry will have to cope with a number of challenges in areas such as the environment, international competitiveness, sustainable development and the circular economy.