In the third quarter of 2021, polyamide specialist Ems (Domat / Switzerland; www.ems-group.com) reached or even partially exceeded sales and earnings figures from 2019. The company said this was mainly due to higher sales volumes triggered by “massive government stimulus measures” in markets such as the US. Compared to 2020, the figures were almost a third higher, as expected.

In each case, revenues of high-performance plastics increased a little more than those of the significantly smaller specialities division, which lagged slightly behind 2019’s figures. However, there are also increasing signs in Switzerland that one must prepare for a slowdown in the economy – although Ems only recently announced millions in investments (see Plasteurope.com of 25.10.2021).

In the July-September period, Ems reported sales of high-performance plastics at CHF 470m (EUR 444m), which was above the Q3 2019 figure of CHF 460m but noticeably less than in the initial two quarters, with the first at CHF 507m versus CHF 530m in the 2019 period, and the second at CHF 532m, up from CHF 486m two years ago. Specialities sales in the third quarter of this year slipped to CHF 56m from CHF 60m in Q3 2019. For the first half of this year, Ems reported group EBIT of CHF 321m compared to CHF 316m two years ago and noted that its previous optimistic forecasts remain unchanged on this basis.

The global economic slowdown, according to Ems, was largely caused by disruptions in international supply chains, which are now curtailing production in a wide range of sectors, and the car industry continues to suffer under the microchip shortage. Added to this are the skyrocketing energy costs, to which the Swiss company also intends to respond with price increases. In May this year, Ems raised prices significantly for base polymers and compounds made of polyamide 6 and 6.6 (see Plasteurope.com of 07.05.2021).