Boss, sit down because I've got news that'll make you drink your coffee with a spoon, not your mouth! The European chemical industry is on the ground, bro, because of the Chinese who've taken the lead with their cheap products. And what do you think? Brussels moves like a snail, as if it's about our pensions, not a crisis that leaves us without raw materials for batteries, cars, and even ammunition.
Listen up, because I found out from a buddy of mine who has a relative at a factory in Belgium. In Tessenderlo, where they've been making soap since 1892, now they produce PVC, but it's a sorry sight. Rudy Miller, a boss at Vynova, said it clearly: 'The entire chemical industry is bleeding. It's industrial suicide.' And he's not joking, because they've already closed a factory in the Netherlands and have three more in restructuring. They filed an anti-dumping complaint, but nothing, bro, nothing moved. That's how it goes for us in Europe: we complain, but we do nothing.
And here's the deal, according to Cefic, we've lost almost 10% of production capacity and 20,000 jobs in just three years. Now, 31% of what we consume comes from abroad, compared to 22% a few years ago. China? Well, 18% of imports are from them, double what it was ten years ago. Well, I'll be! We're messing around with Bitcoin and Brian's TikTok, while they take our market on fast-forward.
An economist, Edse Dantuma from ING, says China's petrochemical production has doubled from 2010 to 2024, while Europe's dropped by 14%. 'The effect is the decline of the European chemical industry,' he said. And no wonder, when our energy prices are twice as high as in the US or China, plus we pay 75 euros per ton of CO₂. It's like we enjoy hurting ourselves, bro.
In February, European leaders gathered in Antwerp, including German Chancellor Merz and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Belgium's Prime Minister, Bart De Wever, said it's 'an existential crisis.' 'We cannot remain passive when China floods our market,' he said. Yeah, bro, nice words, but when it comes to action... An anti-dumping investigation takes six to twelve months, and Rudy Miller says 'it's an eternity.' 'By then, we might not exist anymore.' That's how it is, like when the elevator breaks down in Berceni, you wait a month, but at least that's a scam, not a global crisis.
Concretely, a factory in Tessenderlo consumes as much as the entire city of Antwerp. Salt, electricity, hydrocarbons – everything is expensive. And so, slowly but surely, we lose everything. China invested massively in the real estate boom, and now they sell the surplus to us. BASF, a big company, has massive investments in China and says overcapacity is global. But I say, if we don't move, we'll end up buying even the air from the Chinese.
Alright, I'm off to tell Mioara to stop buying Chinese detergent from Lidl, so maybe I can catch a factory near Berceni. But until then, we're left with the saying: the chemical industry is the blood of the economy, and we're letting it bleed out. What more can I say? That's what happens when you run a country from the couch, bro!
