Europe’s Industry Risks ‘Demand Destruction’ Over Price Hikes
This article is for subscribers only.
Europe’s industrial producers like BASF SE and Yara International ASA so far have managed to pass on soaring energy costs to customers, shielding their profits. There’s a risk to that strategy: They could wipe out future sales.
Most of the region’s energy-intensive firms have either hedged against record electricity and gas prices or are getting customers to cover to higher costs. While that’s likely to see limited fallout for a slew of third-quarter company earnings due over the next two weeks, the question is how much longer buyers of chemicals, paper and metals products are willing to swallow price hikes.