Germany’s BASF to shed 2,600 jobs in cost-cutting drive
BERLIN –
Chemicals maker BASF stated Friday that it plans to chop round 2,600 jobs in a cost-cutting drive spurred partially by the affect of excessive power costs. The announcement got here after fees associated to the exit from Russia of the corporate’s gasoline and oil subsidiary pushed it to a loss in 2022.
BASF, which is predicated in Ludwigshafen, Germany, stated the cost-cutting program could be carried out this yr and subsequent to generate annual financial savings of greater than 500 million euros (US$530 million) within the firm’s service, working and analysis and growth divisions and company headquarters.
“Globally, the measures are expected to have a net effect on around 2,600 positions; this figure includes the creation of new positions, in particular in hubs,” BASF stated in a press release.
It stated that some crops at its sprawling Ludwigshafen website would shut, affecting round 700 manufacturing jobs. But CEO Martin Brudermuller stated the corporate was “very confident that we will be able to offer most of the affected employees employment in other plants.”
Those measures are anticipated to be carried out by the tip of 2026, with the intention of decreasing fastened prices by greater than 200 million euros per yr.
BASF reported a internet loss for 2022 of 627 million euros, following a revenue of 5.5 billion euros the earlier yr. The end result was pushed down by fees of 6.3 billion euros associated largely to the exit from Russia of its Wintershall Dea gasoline and oil subsidiary and on the unit’s gasoline transportation business.
Those included a together with a whole write-down on the corporate’s participation in Nord Stream AG. Wintershall Dea had a 15.5% stake within the operator of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that runs underneath the Baltic Sea, which is majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom and hasn’t transported gasoline to Germany since August. The pipeline was broken in explosions in September that investigators have described as sabotage.
In saying the cost-saving drive, Brudermuller complained that “Europe’s competitiveness is increasingly suffering from over-regulation, slow and bureaucratic permitting processes, and in particular, high costs for most production input factors.”
“All this has already hampered market growth in Europe in comparison with other regions,” he stated. “High energy prices are now putting an additional burden on profitability and competitiveness in Europe.”
BASF says it has greater than 111,000 staff worldwide.
