FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The German chemical industry has stopped its downward slide for the time being in the first quarter of this year. However, the industry association VCI complained on Tuesday at the presentation of the economic report about persistently high costs at the location Germany and demanded the rapid implementation of a lower industrial electricity price.

The full extent of the energy crisis is becoming increasingly apparent, VCI President Markus Steilemann commented on the figures. Even though for many companies the energy and raw materials bill was lower than in the previous quarter, costs were still twice as high as in previous years, he said. "There is a great danger that investments and jobs in the energy-intensive chemical industry will increasingly move abroad," said the manager of plastics manufacturer Covestro. He added that action must now follow in the political arena. "And fast, unbureaucratic and targeted, for example through an industrial electricity price as a bridge to the future and to secure Germany as an industrial location."

In the first three months of this year, production in this important industrial sector still fell short of the previous quarter's figure by 0.9 percent. Despite a sharp rise in producer prices, sales of 58.5 billion euros were 8.2 percent down on the same period last year. This was the first time in two years that the comparable figure for the previous year was not achieved. Employment in the sector remained stable at around 477,000 people.

Because the supply bottlenecks for precursors were slowly easing, companies began to work off their order backlogs, the VCI reported. New business, however, remained subdued. Plant utilization increased by 2.1 points to 78.6 percent compared to the previous quarter. A powerful recovery is not in sight, so the association continues to expect a 5 percent decline in production for the year as a whole./ceb/DP/mis