Europe bears the brunt of BASF's wordwide cuts

19 November 2008 14:58  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Europe will bear the brunt of BASF's plant closures and capacity reductions, the German chemicals company said on Wednesday as it detailed the steps being taken in response to what it has called a “massive decline in demand".

Of the 80 plants to close 50 are in Europe, 20 in Asia and 10 in North America.

The company’s main manufacturing site at Ludwigshafen will be most affected, with employees expected to take overtime related breaks and holidays due. The cutbacks would affect 5,000 Ludwigshafen staff, it said.

BASF said that its cutbacks - 80 production units to close temporarily and more than 100 to be run at reduced operating rates - would affect approximately 20,000 employees worldwide.

Given the severity of the demand slowdown the company did not rule out the prospect of short-time working. It said plants would be closed or run at reduced rates until January 2009.

The 220,000 tonne/year cracker at Ludwigshafen is being taken down for technical maintenance and would be run on “hot standby” a source said.

BASF said that it would close the cracker temporarily and run its crackers in Antwerp, Belgium and in Nanjing, eastern China, at reduced rates.

Among the plants to close at Ludwigsafen, the world's largest chemicals complex and the workplace of 33,000 of BASF 95,000 employees, are the cracker, units producing ammonia, styrene and cyclohexane and plastics polymerisation and compounding plants.

The caprolactam, polyacetal, acetylene and methanol plants were being run at reduced rates.

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By: Nigel Davis
+44 20 8652 3214

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