Enlarge image

Factory premises of the chemical company BASF

Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa

Savings measures worth billions are planned: At the chemical company BASF, sales and profits collapsed in 2023 due to weak demand, especially in Europe.

"In absolute terms, however, our teams made a positive contribution to earnings in all important countries - with the exception of Germany," said BASF boss Martin Brudermüller, according to a statement.

The result in this country suffered from the significantly negative result at the largest production site in Ludwigshafen.

It is therefore necessary to take further measures to improve competitiveness at the headquarters.

BASF therefore wants to save additional costs of one billion euros at the Ludwigshafen site by 2026, the company announced when presenting the final annual figures for 2023.

There should be savings both in production and in areas outside of it.

Fixed costs are to be reduced through increases in efficiency and production capacities are to be adapted to market requirements.

“Unfortunately, the program will also entail further job cuts,” announced Brudermüller.

Details on this are currently being worked out.

The BASF management had already announced an austerity program in 2022 due to worsening business and more difficult conditions in Europe, especially due to sharp increases in gas prices.

This is intended to reduce annual costs by a total of 1.1 billion euros by the end of 2026.

The measures also include the reduction of jobs and the closure of several chemical plants.

By the end of 2023, costs had already fallen by around 600 million euros.

The remaining 500 million euros in savings from the program will be added from 2026, the company said.

The BASF board of directors does not expect any significant improvement for the current year either.

The weakness of the global economic dynamic from 2023 is likely to continue in 2024, the DAX group also announced.

Growth is expected to only increase somewhat later in the year.

In Europe, comparatively high energy prices and unfavorable conditions continued to slow down economic development.

Global chemical production is expected to increase by 2.7 percent.

This will be primarily driven by the expected growth of the Chinese chemical industry.

2023 schrumpfte der Umsatz wie bereits bekannt im Jahresvergleich um ein Fünftel auf knapp 69 Milliarden Euro. Ausschlaggebend hierfür waren deutlich niedrigere Preise und Mengen. Der Absatz sei in allen Segmenten infolge einer schwachen Nachfrage aus vielen Abnehmerbranchen gesunken, hieß es.

Um den Chemiekonzern wieder profitabler zu machen, hatte BASF im Dezember angekündigt, die Geschäfte rund um Agrarchemie, Batteriematerialien sowie Lacke und Beschichtungen (Coatings) aus dem Verbundsystem zu lösen. Diese sollen in rechtlich eigenständige Tochtergesellschaften umgewandelt werden. Diese Bereiche hängen weniger stark mit dem Rest des Konzerns zusammen. Einem Verkauf der Bereiche hatte Unternehmenschef Martin Brudermüller eine Absage erteilt.

eru/dpa/AFX