On the road to international preeminence
Swiss chemical industry continues on growth path

The impact of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry on the Swiss national economy has increased markedly over the past few years. Meanwhile, chemicals have come to account for 5% of Switzerland‘s GDP – a record percentage in international terms. Within this sector, most of the growth originates from pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporations.
The story of the Swiss chemical-pharmaceutical industry is one of change and increasing specialization. Its development can be traced from the dye industry, which was founded by French immigrants to supply the silk and textiles industries, via agrochemicals and the pharmaceutics right through to modern biotechnology. The industry underwent far-reaching change during the 1990s. The main feature of this was the way corporations concentrated on their core operations while hiving off or divesting their other interests. This move conferred lasting strength on these corporations, and above all gave a major boost to Switzerland as a business location. During the 1990s, no other Swiss industry grew as strongly as the chemicalpharmaceutical industry. Between 1990 and 1995, it showed annual growth of9.5%, while the Swiss national economy as a whole stagnated during the same period. During the second half of the 1990s, the chemical-pharmaceutical industry's stunning growth continued at a yearly rate of 8%. Meanwhile, the Swiss national economy grew at a rate of just 1.8%. Compared to other sectors, the Swiss chemical-pharmaceutical industry lies in fifth place behind financial services, trade, the capital goods industry, and business services.