Chemicals and chemical products

Chemical-sector investments in the Cee region appear to have been driven mostly by market-seeking strategies, located mainly in regions with promising growth perspectives. Follow-the leader strategies have been pursued in some sub-sectors. Investors have preferred generally to acquire and restructure existing plants rather than establishing greenfield sites. Given the characteristics of the sector, low labour costs are not likely to be an important factor in investment decisions in this sector. In some cases, investors have taken the opportunity to enter new markets. Finally, as the strategies followed by North-American firms have largely been similar to those followed by European firms, the importance of proximity of the latter to the markets concerned should not be overestimated.