Second quarter earnings fall for both chemical and pharmaceutical industries

From this week's C&EN, the first paragraphs of the 2nd quarter of 2012 results for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. First up, Melody Bomgardner's article on the chemical industry's earnings:

U.S. chemical firms are running out of dependable strategies for maintaining earnings in a global economy that shows few signs of growth. In the second quarter, the 23 firms tracked by C&EN reported an average decline in earnings of 6.1% compared with the year-ago quarter. And in the first quarter, earnings fell by 8.4%.  

Also in the second quarter—and for the first time since the Great Recession ended in 2009—more than half of the surveyed companies reported a decrease in top-line revenues. On average, the companies saw sales retreat by 1.1%. Chemical executives blame the drop on lower sales volumes because of customer destocking, depressed prices, and currency exchange losses due to a relatively strong dollar.

Next, Lisa Jarvis' article on pharma industry earnings:

Second-quarter sales plummeted at many big pharmaceutical companies as the full impact of patent expirations on top-selling products kicked in. Companies hit the hardest by generics competition are trying everything from acquisitions to geographic diversification to shore up their businesses. 

For a second consecutive quarter, overall sales and earnings for the big pharma­ceutical companies tracked by C&EN declined. For the 10 companies reporting second-quarter results, sales were down 4.5% compared with the same period in 2011. Earnings fell 2.6%. 

Well, let's hope this is a temporary thing.