Overview
- Ineos confirmed 60 job cuts at its Acetyls plant in Hull and cited high energy costs and cheap Chinese imports, following this week’s closure of two Rheinberg facilities in Germany with 175 jobs lost.
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe said European producers pay roughly four times U.S. gas and power prices and face added carbon costs, warning of about one million direct job losses and up to 10 million including indirect roles if no action is taken.
- The Ineos founder urged removal of green levies from energy bills, scrapping of carbon taxes, restoration of free allowances, faster anti-dumping and tariff protections, and stronger carbon border measures.
- An Oxford Economics report commissioned by Ineos found chemical output down 30% in the UK, 18% in Germany, 12% in France, and 7% in Belgium since 2019, with 21 major European plants shutting and more than 11 million tonnes of capacity at risk.
- Ineos has paused dividend payments and imposed a hiring freeze as it reassesses European operations, after previous site closures including at Grangemouth and other locations across the region.