The European Commission is preparing new measures to prop up the EU’s chemicals industry as a wave of cheap Chinese imports pushes the sector to the brink.
EU leaders will discuss a Commission effort to curb the Chinese supply glut at a summit on June 18–19. But the Brussels machinery moves slowly, and drawing up measures could take months, or even years — time Europe’s chemical manufacturers say they don’t have.
Chemicals lobby Cefic estimates that the European industry has shed nearly 10 percent of its capacity and 20,000 jobs over the past three years.
EU public funds intended to support development of third world countries, goes to Chinese state supported businesses.
The contract is financed by a consortium of European institutions, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Commission, France’s AFD and Germany’s KfW,
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Anger in Brussels is mounting, as many criticise that EU public money meant to support development in Africa could end up benefiting subsidised Chinese state-owned companies.
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Sandro Gozi, a liberal MEP close to French President Emmanuel Macron, also said the EU should not be a bystander in how its funds are used.
Pressed on the question of CRRC receiving backing from the Chinese government, Andrews responded: “we don’t know that”. He acknowledged that China subsidises some domestic companies but said that “there has been quite a lot of state aid for European companies,” which has still not sufficed for these industries to compete with Chinese equivalents.
The West has an ideology problem.
Do we continue supporting needy countries n groups at the expense of our own economies n taxpayers?
This is not new. China now makes ethylene from abundant coal.
China is known to select certain businesses to dominate. Lithium, batteries, EVs, rare earth, etc. Petrochemicals seems to be targeted. They are flooding markets w low cost product. As leaders in manufacturing, this may well be vertical integration.
Petrochemicals are not labor intensive. Most plants are highly automated w small staff. It’s a capital intensive business.
Europes only option is probably tariffs to protect domestic jobs. But if they cannot compete in global markets the future looks dim. Many EU chemical plants are not profitable (w/o low cost Russian NG and now w high oil prices).
