BERLIN (Reuters) - The chief executive of German chemicals group BASF sees a slump in demand bottoming out but said it is too soon to speak of a turnaround, in an interview with Switzerland's NZZ newspaper published on Friday.
"We see a bottom forming," CEO Martin Brudermueller told the paper.
"The fall in prices and the decline in sales volumes have stopped. However, I would not yet speak of a real turnaround. For now, we are happy that things are not going any further downhill," Brudermueller added.
Germany's chemicals industry body VCI said last month it expects revenue to fall by 3.5% this year and production to stagnate at a low level, as the sector battles against high production costs and weak demand.
Energy prices have been easing, however, and on Friday the federal statistics office reported Germany's ninth consecutive month of falling producer prices, albeit with a lower-than-forecast decline of 2.9% in March.