Europe's Petrochemical Industry Is Heading for Death Row
The region’s manufacturers are importing the building blocks to make plastic from overseas as energy prices make domestic production too costly.
The logo of German chemical giant BASF is seen on flags fluttering in front of the company's headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
Photographer: Daniel Roland/AFP via Getty Images
The last time European petrochemical plants processed so little of their favorite feedstock, Sweden’s ABBA was the most popular band on the continent, and the Fall of Saigon had marked the end of the Vietnam War. It was 1975, and the region was still licking its wounds after the first oil crisis. Nearly half a century later, the industry is dying.
It would be a mistake to interpret this as a triumph in the fight against plastics. Europe keeps consuming voracious amounts of foams, paints, resins and every other product petrochemical factories make. It’s just replacing indigenous production with imported stuff.