Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 5 August.

German chemicals fear additional costs as Berlin imposes ‘gas levy’
Germany’s government has decided to impose a temporary gas levy (“Gasumlage”) on natural gas consumption to cope with costs caused by the reductions in Russian gas supplies – but chemical producers warn of additional burdens that will hurt their international competitiveness.

UK to enter recession in Q4 with inflation at 13% – central bank
The UK is expected to enter recession in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022 while inflation will stand at 13% by year-end, the Bank of England (BoE) said on Thursday.

Summary of mid-year Europe OUTLOOK stories
Here are the second half (H2) 2022 European OUTLOOK stories which ran on ICIS news throughout July and the first week of August.

Europe PE, PP prices to fall further on lower demand, US and MidEast imports – Borealis CEO
European polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) prices are set to fall further as domestic demand softens and more imports from the US and the Middle East are heading to Europe, the CEO of Austrian polyolefins producer Borealis said.

Germany’s Covestro Q2 net income falls sharply amid higher feedstock, energy prices
Covestro’s second-quarter net income fell by 55.7% after earnings were hit by higher raw material and energy prices, the German chemicals major said on Tuesday.

Europe continues to sanction Russian fertilizers despite local production issues
In Europe, imports of Russian fertilizers remain sanctioned even after Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the United Nations, clearing the way to export millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain and Russian grain and fertilizer products.