The European chemical industry can still be portrayed as vibrant and strong. However, worldwide competition is getting fiercer. In 2006, world chemicals sales were estimated at €1641 billion, an increase of 9% compared to the previous year. With €476 billion, the EU chemical industry is still in a top position, but has lost its first place in the ranking to Asia (including China and Japan), mainly due to the rise of China and India. In 2006, China occupied the third place in worldwide chemical sales and India ranked seventh, so both are among the world’s ten largest chemical producers. Taken together, the EU, Asia and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Area) account for almost 90% of the world turnover.