Management Report
2. Economic Outlook
We expect the global economy to continue growing in the second half of the year, albeit at a slower pace and with regional differences. There are increasing signs of a slowdown in growth in China; however, we expect the expansion in that country to weaken only slightly. The U.S. economy will most likely continue to gradually recover. There is a varying trend in the eurozone. While some countries are suffering from the debt crisis, we expect a continued upswing in Germany. The disasters in Japan probably will not have a significant impact on the global economy.
Overall, the growth perspectives for the global economy will depend on how Europe and the United States overcome their debt crises. Economic expansion could also be hampered by rising oil prices.
We anticipate that the pharmaceutical market will grow by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2011, with this trend increasingly driven by the emerging markets. We believe that growth will be weaker in the established markets such as the United States and the major European countries.
We continue to foresee solid growth in 2011 for the consumer care market. The diabetes care market will most likely grow only minimally this year. We expect the positive trend in the animal health market to continue unabated.
We expect a continued positive trend in the global seed and crop protection market over the course of the year. Likely contributing to this will be the high prices for agricultural raw materials that have led to an increase in agricultural production.
The recovery in the major customer industries of MaterialScience is expected to continue in the coming quarters. However, we believe growth rates will be weaker overall than in the year to date due to the declining pace of growth, especially in China, and to increasing economic risks.