Europe chemicals need to adapt to become more competitive

04 October 2009 09:02  [Source: ICIS news]

By Lucy Craymer

LISBON (ICIS news)--The European chemical industry is failing to compete in the global market and needs to become more flexible, experts and insiders said late on Saturday.

Europe and the US had promoted a global industry and while they were initially the big winners from free trade they were now suffering, said Antonio Nogueira from the University Nova de Lisboa.

European chemical companies had a long way to go to make themselves competitive, he added.

“But we have to make our economies flexible. We now need to adapt the world we created,” Nogueira said at the Global Chemical Industry European Convention.

Michael Vassiliadis, of the European Mine, Chemical Energy Workers’ Federation, added: “We have to create a successful industry in Europe and a successful European chemical industry.”

But Rhodia chairman and chief executive Jean-Pierre Clamadieu said chemical companies needed to be on the same footing as their counterparts elsewhere in the world in terms of regulation.

He added that governments should ensure companies were not put in a situation where they had no choice but to move out of Europe to set up businesses

“We want a level playing field. Clearly we need to have a global environment,” he said.

However, globalisation and free trade might take a hit as a result of changes in policy brought on by the recession. There has been speculation that China’s decision not to join the World Trade Organization pact eliminating import duties in the chemical sector could be the beginning of protectionist trend.

But Cefic said this was not the case. Head of trade policy at the European chemicals industry trade group, Rene Van Sloten, said protectionist strategies, such as tariffs and antidumping legislation, remained very weak and the trend seen following the depression of the 1930s had yet to emerge.

He added that what happened globally with protectionism would depend on what happen in terms of unemployment and trade in the next year.

Cefic president Christian Jourquin added that he believed there was a danger there would be an increase in protectionist legislation.

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By: Lucy Craymer
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