Global chemical production growth slows to 1% in 2026

Frankfurt, Germany – Global chemicals production increased 1.0% year-on-year over the first half of the year, with growth in China offsetting declines across many other major producing countries.

In its latest ‘world chemistry report’, published 22 Sept, the German chemicals industry association VCI noted that the pace of global growth is slowing significantly from 3.8% in 2025 and 4.9% in 2024.

China remained the strongest-performing major chemicals producer, with output up 3.8% year-on-year through July.

The increase, however, represents a significant slowdown from growth of 7.9% in 2025, 9.1% in 2024 and 9.6% in 2023, according to VCI’s report.

Elsewhere in Asia, production was broadly flat in India, up 0.2% year-on-year in South Korea and down 3.8% in Japan.

Singapore recorded a sharp 9.3% year-on-year contraction through to end of July, while Thailand's production declined 1.4%.

Taiwan, meanwhile, saw a 3.6% year-on-year increase in chemicals production through to end of March.

The US chemicals sector also reported a weak first-half, with production down 2.1% year-on-year through July, following 1.0% growth in 2025.

Production in Canada declined by 2.6% through June, while Mexico was broadly flat, declining 0.1% year-over-year.

In Europe, overall, EU27 chemicals production fell 2.0% year-on-year through July, following a 2.4% contraction in 2025.

Germany, Europe's largest chemicals producer, recorded a 2.7% decline in the first seven months of the year, after a 3.0% fall last year.

Production also declined 5.0% in the Netherlands, 4.3% in Belgium and 3.3% in Italy.

France remained flat, while Spain stood out among the larger EU producers with a year-on-year growth of 2.8%.

Polish production was almost unchanged, down 0.2%.

Outside the EU, UK chemicals production fell 4.1% and Russian output declined 2.6%.

Turkey, by contrast, recorded a growth of 3.7% compared to the first seven months of 2025.

In South America, Brazil's chemicals production declined 3.1% year-on-year through July, reversing a growth of 1.1% in 2025 and 3.0% in 2024.

Argentina recorded a 4.7% increase, while Chile slipped 0.4%.