Capitulo I El Tránsito Vehicular y sus Elementos
1.1 La red de carreteras
1.1.5 Principales corredores en Nicaragua
the global economy experienced further growth in the previous year. however, economic development slowed and resulted in global gdp growth of around 2 percent. the primary factors behind this trend remained the financial crisis in Europe, the sover- eign debt crisis in the Usa and the growth slowdown experienced in emerging markets in asia.
as a whole, the economy in Western Europe experi- enced slightly negative growth on account of reces- sion-hit economies, particularly in southern Europe. Economic growth in Eastern Europe fell to around 2 percent, primarily as a result of a drop in demand from Western Europe. asia (not including Japan), Latin america and africa/middle East all reported relatively robust economic growth. the asian region (not including Japan) saw its economic output rise by some 5 percent, mostly due to development in China and India.
overall, industrial production expanded by around 3 percent. however, fluctuating economic growth and the somewhat tense political situation in the middle East were responsible for further volatile feed material prices in 2012. however, changes remained moderate in terms of the average price level. accord- ing to information published by the organization of petroleum Exporting Countries (opEC), the average price of West texas Intermediate (WtI) crude oil was down by around 1 percent year on year at 94.09 Us dollars per barrel. at 2.5 percent, the increase in consumer spending was still relatively low. In West- ern Europe, consumer spending was down slightly on account of the sovereign debt crisis, whereas the same figure rose by around 1 percent in germany.
Germany
after a positive start to 2012, the german economy experienced a notable slowdown in the second half of the year. however, in spite of the escalating sov- ereign debt crisis affecting a number of European countries, growth was nevertheless achieved over the year as a whole. according to forecasts pub- lished by the federal statistical office, gdp in ger- many rose by 0.7 percent but fell substantially short of the growth rates of previous years, which were driven by general recovery in the wake of the 2009 global financial crisis. Exports proved to be the most
important growth driver in 2012. Increases in export volume to countries outside of the European Union (EU) more than compensated for declining exports to EU member states.
Development in our relevant markets
at 2.6 percent, global growth in chemical produc- tion was significantly lower than in the previous year (+3.8 percent). Expectations that demand for prod- ucts in the chemicals industry would recover in the second half of the year were not met. the rea- sons for this were weak economic development in industrialized nations and subdued growth in many emerging markets. Chemical production in the EU was down 1.4 percent in 2012. In germany, pro- duction levels fell by an average of 3.1 percent over the year. declines in production were also seen in other European countries. at the same time, major declines in production in important customer seg- ments led to a further drop in demand for primary chemical products.slight economic recovery also brought with it increasing feed material prices. rising oil prices and high demand, primarily from asia, led to a steep rise in the prices of the main feed materials n-paraf- fin and benzene over the course of 2012. the start- up of new LaB capacities in asia led to a decline in import demand from Europe (-6.0 percent) com- pared to 2011. rising demand in asia absorbed new local capacities, meaning that pressure of imports into Europe fell substantially once again (-39.0 per- cent).
global demand for linear alkyl benzene (LaB) grew, which caused demand for linear alkyl benzene sul- fonate (Las) to fall. demand in our domestic market of Europe fell by 4 percent. this is due, in particu- lar, to the occasional reduction of surfactant content in detergents and cleaning agents and to changes in
formulations in favor of other, cheaper surfactants, as LaB and Las are relatively expensive due to their respective feed materials. the decline seen in pow- der detergents (-4.0 percent to -5.0 percent per year) is also a contributing factor to falling Las consump- tion, as powder detergents have a higher Las con- tent than liquid detergents.
according to data published by the gfK, turno- ver in the german retail industry rose year on year by around 1.0 percent, reaching a volume of EUr 410.1 billion. the slight economic upturn experienced in the previous year continued into 2012 and had a positive impact on the employment market. however, according to gfK, consumer sentiment is mixed. although consumer spending is low, expectations in terms of future income and propensity to buy have “noticeably” increased despite sluggish economic development.
the Industrial association for Body Care and Clean- ing products (Industrieverband Körperpflege- und Waschmittel e.v. − IKW) estimates that, with the exception of cleaning agents, the cosmetics and household detergents sub-markets have grown in 2012. the beauty care segment is expected to gen- erate a volume of 12.9 billion euro, corresponding to a rise of 1.4 percent, and the household deter- gents market is anticipated to generate 4.3 billion euro (+0.9 percent). In terms of personal care prod- ucts, hair care products represented the largest mar- ket with an overall share of 23 percent. this segment and the skin/face care segment have increased year on year.
In terms of detergents and cleaning agents, universal detergents once again represented the largest sub- market, increasing by 5.0 percent during the year. special detergents fell slightly by around 0.8 percent,
as did the auxiliary washing agents market by around 2.6 percent. fabric conditioner rose 2.0 percent year on year. household cleaning agents had a negative impact, falling by 7.1 percent.