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BASF Plans to Cut 6,000 Jobs as Demand for Chemicals Slows

  • Efforts to reduce workforce will take until end of 2021
  • Chemical maker sees savings of 300 million euros from move
BASF Predicts Growth In 2013 As Earnings Buoyed By Plastics

Photographer: Ralph Orlowski/Bloomberg

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BASF SE plans to cut 6,000 jobs worldwide in the face of a slowdown in demand for chemicals, with the German manufacturer unveiling the headcount reduction on the same day as Ford Motor Co. said it would eliminate a fifth of its workforce in Europe.

BASF’s trimming of about 5% of the payroll -- half at home in Germany -- will generate savings of 300 million euros ($341 million), the Ludwigshafen-based company said in a statement on Thursday. The shares gained 1.6% in Frankfurt.