German chemicals association VCI on Wednesday said it expected production and revenues in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors to drop this year, citing declining orders and supply chains disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Christian Kullmann, president of the association that represents chemical and pharmaceutical firms with operations in Germany, said: "2020 will be a difficult year."

He added that companies would feel the impact of the pandemic strongly in the coming months.

The VCI reported a 1% drop in first-quarter revenue compared with the previous year. It warned that the sector did not feel the full impact of the pandemic in the first three months of 2020 and said it would only publish a precise forecast for the year after the second quarter.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Michelle Martin)