(ICIS) -- EU chemicals production in September increased by 6.5% year on year, but the sector is still below the pre-crisis levels reached in 2007, chemical industry association Cefic said on Thursday.
Third-quarter data indicated that Poland and Belgium were above pre-crisis production levels for the first time, while the aggregate EU chemicals sector was still 5.6% below, Cefic said.
EU production data for the first nine months showed that Germany's output was ahead of other countries in Europe, with a rise of nearly 20% compared with the same period last year.
The EU external trade surplus for chemicals improved 9.7% during the first eight months compared with the same period the year before.
Cefic said the specialty chemicals sector was the main contributor to the additional surplus. External demand from the rest of Europe, Latin America and emerging Asia drove the EU trade surplus spike during the first eight months.
Prices rose by 5% during the first three quarters, compared with January-September 2009.