TESSENDERLO, Belgium — 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.
“The whole chemical industry is bleeding,” said Rudy Miller, vice president of Belgian chemicals business Vynova. “It’s industrial suicide.”
Vynova used to be Europe’s second-largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, a versatile plastic used in plumbing, floor tiles, wire insulation and medical devices.
No longer. Vynova says it is being undercut by competition from China — a net importer of PVC as recently as 2019.
Vynova has shuttered production at one Dutch site, while three other factories are under legal restructuring procedures. It has filed an anti-dumping complaint against its Chinese competitors, though no investigation has yet been opened. The Commission declined to comment.
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.
Meanwhile, Europe’s dependence on imported chemicals is growing. Non-EU suppliers delivered 31 percent of chemicals consumed in the bloc in 2023, up from 22 percent in 2013, according to Cefic. China, the largest supplier, has doubled its share of imports to 18 percent over the past decade.
The EU executive is now looking at a series of options to save companies like Vynova. These range from sectoral quotas and import restrictions — an approach it pioneered with steel — to more aggressive targeted tariffs on Chinese producers.
But with the debate on tougher trade defense measures against China just getting started, Miller worries Vynova could already be out of business by the time they are effective.
A dissolving business
Chemicals may lack the glamor of artificial intelligence and biotech, but they are essential inputs in everything from ammunition to batteries and cars. Policymakers worry that the EU’s growing dependence on China could leave the bloc in a lurch if that supply is ever shut off.
China’s petrochemical manufacturing roughly doubled from 2010 to 2024, said Edse Dantuma, a senior economist at Dutch bank ING. Europe’s capacity, meanwhile, decreased by 14 percent. Judging by investments into plants that are yet to go online, Chinese production is only going to rise.
PVC manufacturing is an energy-intensive process, and electricity prices are higher in Europe than in the U.S. or China. | Carlo Martuscelli/POLITICO“The effect is, of course, a downturn for the European chemicals industry,” he said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other EU leaders discussed the industry’s crisis with business leaders in February in the Belgian port city of Antwerp — a key transport and production hub in Europe’s chemical supply chain network.
During the event, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever described the scenario outlined by Cefic as an “existential crisis.”
“We cannot stand idly by while other countries such as China massively dump goods on our market,” he said.