Chemical companies face huge challenges

Leading companies can’t hold back their production cuts! Chemical companies “lay flat” stop loss

Global natural gas prices are undergoing an epic market. Natural gas prices in Asia have skyrocketed 6 times in the past year, and Europe has soared 10 times in 14 months. The U.S. market has also reached its highest point in a decade. The natural gas crisis has prompted many in Europe. Chemical companies limit output.

BASF: cuts its synthetic ammonia production at its two production bases in Antwerp, Belgium and Ludwigshafen, Germany

American fertilizer giant CF Industry: Forced to close two British factories, and did not specify when to resume production.

Yara International Group, Europe’s largest fertilizer producer, is reducing the output of many plants and reducing European ammonia production by 40%. Approximately 2 million tons are affected this time, involving factories in the Netherlands, Italy, the UK and France. The factories in Germany and Norway have planned maintenance and will further reduce production capacity.

The Dutch fertilizer giant OCI said last week that high production costs caused it to partially close the ammonia production unit at the Geleen plant.

Norwegian chemical company Yara InternationalASA: Due to high natural gas prices, it will cut ammonia production by about 40%.

Borealis: It is reducing ammonia production in Europe and will “further analyze the situation of its plants in Austria, France and the Netherlands.”

Leading companies have been hit hard, and they have to choose to reduce or even stop production to preserve their strength through the cold winter. The status quo of small and medium-sized enterprises is even more difficult to describe. Since mid-to-late September, products such as titanium dioxide, pigments, fillers, emulsions, auxiliaries, etc. have set off a wave of violent price increases under the background of power cuts and gas shortages in large areas. As for the price increase, nearly a hundred domestic enterprises collectively issued a price increase letter.

Compared with the upstream price increase, the downstream of the chemical industry is quite bleak. The real estate industry has suffered a cold winter, and the collective upset of Evergrande Group, China Fortune Land Development, SOHO, etc. The aluminum profile industry giant Zhongwang Group is also in danger, home appliances, Manufacturing industries such as furniture, automobiles, and aviation have even lowered their operating rates under dual restrictions and dual controls. Exports are restricted, and shipping is hard to find, and performance has plummeted.

Under the situation of dual control of energy consumption, power rationing, raw material and fuel prices “take off”, and sea freight charges soaring by 10 times, chemical companies are facing huge challenges-costs are skyrocketing, product prices are difficult to rise, and profits become thinner and thinner. , Do not dare to accept orders, or there is no dilemma that new orders can be accepted at all.