FRANKFURT Chemical companies in Germany are scaling back their growth forecasts for the current year in face of the U.S. and global economic slowdown, the industry federation VCI said recently.

VCI said in a statement released at a news conference here that it now expected chemicals production in Germany to decline this year, compared with an earlier forecast of growth of 2.0 percent.

Similarly, VCI had also revised downwards its sales forecasts, predicting that companies would sell just 4.0 percent more chemicals this year, instead of the 5.0-percent increase it had been expecting earlier, AFP reported.

"Uncertainty about the future development of the U.S. economy and the potential fallout for Europe and Asia is casting a shadow over the business climate in the chemicals sector," VCI President Manfred Schneider said.