All chemical sub sectors showed positive growth in 2006. Consumer chemicals were the growth leader with 4.4%, followed by specialty chemicals (3.4%), basic inorganics (1.9%) and petrochemicals (1.3%). Polymers growth has been almost stagnating with a growth rate of 0.3%. This led to a growth rate of 2.1% for chemicals in 2006. Adding pharmaceuticals with growth of 8.2%, chemicals including pharmaceuticals grew by 4.2% in 2006, demonstrating the different growth pattern that pharmaceuticals are following. For 2007, the outlook for most sub sectors shows rising growth rates in comparison to 2006, specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals being the exception.