Sir Jim Ratcliffe has called on Europe’s politicians to take immediate and urgent action to halt the catastrophic decline in the European chemical industry and protect Europe’s economy from a total reliance on imported goods.
“There is not going to be much left of chemicals in Europe unless politicians get to grips with it very soon.” He says, “We now have huge levels of Chinese imports coming into Europe for two reasons. Firstly President Trump’s actions have pushed them out of the US and so it is now all coming here, and secondly, China has vastly overbuilt capacity. No Chinese company is making money and all of this product is finding its way into Europe at ‘dumping’ prices.”
Sir Jim commented that he has never seen trading this bad, even in the downturn of 2008. He added, “Chemicals, a one trillion Euro industry, cannot survive without tariff protection IMMEDIATELY alongside action on crippling carbon taxation. Energy prices are four times higher in Europe than in the US and that is totally unsustainable.”
The net result of this disastrous European policy is an unprecedented tsunami of closures of major chemical facilities across the continent of Europe. In the 5 year period from 2022 to 2027, a total of 90 facilities have either closed or are closing with a loss of almost 25 million tonnes of capacity. These plants would all cost between €500m and €1billion to replace so a loss of almost €70 billion from Europe’s asset base.
Sir Jim ends by saying, “This data is clear evidence of decline that can no longer be ignored by the politicians. Someone needs to wake up before the entire industry is gone, leaving Europe dependent on China for the core materials that support defence, healthcare, food and manufacturing. We need action now.”
ENDS
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