By Joshua Stein

German chemical industry group VCI said Wednesday that industry conditions improved in the third quarter after setbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but it still expects declines in the full year compared with 2019.

Industry sales and producer prices rose in the period, but all indicators remained significantly lower than in the previous year, VCI said.

Sales were up 2.8% to 43.8 billion euros ($51.75 billion) compared with the second quarter, with domestic sales alone up 3.5%. Prices grew by 0.5% on quarter, but remained 2.6% lower than in the same period of 2019, according to VCI's data.

Production--excluding pharmaceuticals--increased 4.9%. Including pharmaceuticals, production was up 1.9%.

"Even though the upswing in the industry was strong, another damper is threatening from corona," VCI President Christian Kullmann said.

As a second wave of infections has built up, Germany and many European countries have increased health-protection measures.

"Against this backdrop, the business prospects of chemical companies recently clouded over again," VCI said.

VCI said it still expects a 6.0% drop in sales in 2020 to EUR186.40 billion and a drop in production of 3.0%.

Write to Joshua Stein at joshua.stein@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-11-20 1154ET