Industry Facts & Figures

Tuesday, 02, Dec 2008 04:52

The chemical industry in the UK employs 230,000 highly skilled people nationwide and accounts for 2% of Gross Domestic Product. With sales of chemicals and chemical products of £34 billion the chemical industry is one of the UK's largest manufacturing industries.

It is the UK's top manufacturing export earner, with an annual trade surplus of £5.5 billion on a gross output of £49 billion. It spends nearly £3 billion a year on new capital investment, plus £3.5 billion on R&D expenditure - equivalent to more than 10% of sales.

The industry also provides a tax and national insurance contribution of nearly £5 billion a year to the UK national government and local authorities.