Chemical industry growth

Acetic acid has a place in organic processes comparable to sulfuric acid in the mineral chemical industries and its movements mirror the industry. Growth of synthetic acetic acid production in the United States was gready affected by the dislocations in fuel resources of the 1970s. The growth rate for 1988 was 1.5%. 

Such difficulties and problems, which are arguably inherent in an industry selling chemicals that even (and especially) their customers claim to be hazardous, do not decrease the sales pressures of applicators, but instead increase them. Despite the growth in the number of lawns nationally, with a more difficult-to-maintain customer base, more resources must be dedicated to increasing communication, advertising, and sales, to redirect consumer attention from chemical risks. 

Short-term profit volatility and analysts forecasts, then, have much less impact on a company s share price than is often assumed. Capital markets have a longer-term perspective. Furthermore, in an industry like chemicals, even if we assume a continuous improvement in fundamental performance, the attempt to generate an equally continuous, volatility-free growth in profits will be virtually impossible because of structural factors like feedstock volatility, currency exposure, and seasonal effects. Chemical companies should learn to live with earnings surprises and concentrate instead on communicating a concrete long-term strategy - and of course deliver appropriately on capital market expectations, which will be correctly set on this basis. 

While local dynamics will always remain vital to the profitability of chemical distributors, strategic partnerships with suppliers and customers will play an increasing role in their performance. To ensure substantial value growth, specific key success factors must be fulfilled to enable distributors to leap to the next industry S-curve as partners of the chemical industry and chemical-consuming manufacturers. 

E. Homburg, A. S. Travis and H. G. Schroter, eds, The Chemical Industry in Europe, 1850-1914 Industrial growth, Pollution and Professionalization, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, 1998. 

That belief is well founded. Studies indicate that as much as 50 percent of the economic growth of the United States over the past 50 years is due to technological innovations spurred by investments in R D. Our most research-intensive industries—aerospace, chemicals, communications equipment, computers and office equipment, pharmaceuticals, scientific instruments, semiconductors, and software— have been growing at about twice the rate of the economy as a whole over the past two decades. 

The chemical industry is essentially a science-based industry. The technologies applied in the chemical industry have their well-established scientific roots, and industry growth has been closely linked to scientific discoveries. One of the main reasons for the enormous growth of the chemical industry in the developed world has been its great commitment to the investment in R D. This traditional investment in R D does much to explain the outstanding growth rate of the industry in the twentieth century and its superior record of increased productivity. The industry s organized application of science to industrial problems has... 

The tremendous achievements which have been accomplished by the judicious use of pesticides in increased world-wide food production and the control of vector-bome diseases are very evident. In addition, pesticidal materials contribute to the effective control of undesirable species of pests including insects, plants, bacteria, fungi, etc., and assist in the nutrition, growth, and reproduction of certain desirable species. However, because of widespread use in these applications, pesticides have proliferated intensely in the biosphere and thus have significantly contributed to problems of environmental pollution. For example, the effects of these chemicals on public health and the survival of species of fish and wildlife are two specific areas of critical concern. The attention which has been focused in recent years on the occiurence of residues of pesticides and their metabohtes, as well as other industrially significant chemicals in the environment, is demonstrated by the numerous reports of various official and unofficial committees of inquiry which have considered this problem and have reported the results of large numbers of assays of pesticide residues in such diverse substrates as human and animal tissues, food, plants, water, soil, and air. 

Anonymous. 1994. Production by the U.S. Chemical Industry Growth continues in chemical production. Chem Eng News 72 30-36. 

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