Chemical Industry CEOs See No Recovery in Sight. (Business Outlook).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Chemical Week, December, 2001

SENIOR CHEMICAL EXECUTIVES SAY margins and demand have stabilized at trough levels, but they see little indication that recovery is at hand. Speakers at the annual CW-Salomon Smith Barney Chemical Conference, held last week in New York, said they are waiting for signs of a rebound in demand that will reignite sales and earnings growth.

"Industry conditions are about as bad as they can get," says Dow Chemical executive v.p. and CFO J. Pedro Reinhard. Demand weakness and excess capacity have created "a double whammy on margins," says Reinhard. Dow's fourth-quarter earnings, as a result, will fall below the level of its dividend, and full-year returns will fall below the cost of captial for the first time since 1994, he says.

But there are some positive...

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