His reappointment to the Board of Directors took place in Lisbon, at Cefic’s General Assembly held during the Chemical Convention, the sector’s largest annual forum for reflection.
João de Mello, Chairman of the Board of Directors and of the Executive Committee of Bondalti and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Ercros, was re-elected to the Board of Directors of Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, for a further two-year term. The re-election took place at the organisation’s General Assembly, held as part of the Chemical Convention. The largest annual forum for reflection on the chemical industry is taking place in Portugal for the first time, bringing together the chief executives of Europe’s largest chemical companies.
With this renewed vote of confidence, João de Mello remains the only Portuguese member of the governing bodies of Europe’s foremost chemical association, having sat on Cefic’s Board of Directors since 2023.
According to João de Mello, “as a member of Cefic’s Board of Directors, I intend to keep contributing to a more competitive and resilient European industry, at a delicate moment shaped by international conflicts and the rise of non-European markets with significant weight in the sector. Cefic will continue to provide all the support needed for the transformation of the European Union’s economy with innovative and sustainable solutions.”
According to Cefic’s latest data, the industry is under pressure, with EU production falling by 2% between January and July 2026 compared with the same period last year. The sector is dealing with weak demand and structural competitiveness pressures that continue to intensify globally. It is to discuss this new reality, marked by geopolitical fragmentation, energy challenges and shifting trade dynamics, that the industry’s leaders are gathered at the Chemical Convention in Lisbon.
In this demanding context, Cefic’s role is all the more important. Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Brussels, Cefic currently has around 650 members and entities, which account for around 14% of global chemical production and employ 1.2 million workers in the European Union. The chemical industry is one of the sectors with the highest added value in the European Union, at 335 billion euros, and the fourth-largest manufacturing sector. By supplying countless highly interconnected value chains, the sector plays a structural role in the functioning of many other key industries. The strength of this industrial base is therefore increasingly seen as an essential pillar of Europe’s economic sovereignty amid today’s intense global geoeconomic competition.
To address the sector’s challenges, Cefic has been an active partner of the European Union and its institutions, supporting the implementation of the European Green Deal. In February 2024, the association signed the “Antwerp Declaration for a European Industrial Deal”, a document setting out a series of urgent needs in light of global economic and geopolitical challenges.
