Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 7 March 2025.

Europe glycerine spot prices rise on prolonged shortages
Constrained crude glycerine availability evident over an extended length of time has exerted upward pricing pressure on all glycerine grades in the European market, resulting in spot prices rising this week.

INSIGHT: Half a decade on from the pandemic, feedstock pricing volatility remains widespread and perhaps irreversible

Next week marks half a decade since major lockdowns were enforced across Europe in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the obvious thing to do would be to reflect back on how much life has changed over the past five years.

Europe colorless PET bottle bale prices rise for first time since Q2 2024
Reduced supply and higher demand from the downstream recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) flake sector have seen colorless (C) post-consumer PET bottle bale prices in northwest Europe (NWE) rise for the first time since April 2024.

Europe chems stocks tank amid tariff-driven global sell-off
European chemicals stocks fell on Tuesday in line with a wider market sell-off as the US prepares to impose wide-ranging tariffs on Mexico and Canada and China announced retaliatory tariffs on the US, deepening global trade tensions.

BASF not looking to tailwinds for 2025 earnings growth
BASF expects to increase earnings in 2025, with most units other than chemicals expected to contribute to annual growth, but it is not expecting much support from economic tailwinds this year.