In the Greater War, outside the killing fields of Bakhmut, where the deaths are less violent and more slowly inflicted, things are looking just as grim as Bakhmut itself.
https://www.ft.com/content/b0b2b2c2-ee63-4989-afab-6882feab4b73Quote
The German company said on Friday that it would close one of its two ammonia plants at its home site in Ludwigshafen as well as the units producing caprolactam, a chemical used to make fibres and plastics, and TDI, a compound used to make flexible foam.
The plans, which are expected to lower the group’s annual costs by €200mn by the end of 2026, will also lead to reduced production in Germany of adipic acid — a compound used to make nylon — as well as closure of three other plants that were needed in its production.
Damn, too bad your ally blew up the only pipeline that could have saved you! Also, imagine how fucked a Western company has to be at this point to stop doing stock buybacks lmao
Quote
The latest cost-cutting comes on top of an existing plan to reduce costs by €1bn over the next two years, which the company announced last year, saying that it would “permanently” downsize in Europe, as high energy costs were making the region increasingly uncompetitive. Last year BASF’s energy costs soared by €3.2bn, despite reduced production in several plants.
BASF is one of several large German groups that are making a big bet on China, where it is building a €10bn plastics engineering facility, which it says will support growing demand in the country.
Oh damn, America's IRA scheme to steal industry from the EU isn't enough to stop those shuttered factories from moving to a country with a much more responsive and profitable industrial policy?!
Some of you might be thinking "who cares, it's one company!"
BASF is an industrial giant. It employs 110,000 people and is a mainstay of chemical inputs in everything from pool noodles to the gases used in EUV lithography for 2nm chips.
This post was edited by kusotarre1 on Feb 25 2023 07:05pm