European chemical manufacturers are shuttering facilities and slashing staff as cheap Chinese imports push the sector to the edge. While the European Commission plans interventions, Brussels’ slow-moving machinery threatens to deliver aid too late. Rudy Miller, VP of Belgian PVC producer Vynova, described the situation as „industrial suicide.” Stripped of its market share by China—which flipped from a net importer to a massive exporter since 2019—Vynova has closed a Dutch site and put others into restructuring.
According to industry group Cefic, the EU chemical sector has lost nearly 10% of its capacity and 20,000 jobs over three years. Meanwhile, China’s share of EU chemical imports doubled over the past decade to 18%. To save the industry, the EU is weighing options ranging from steel-style import quotas to targeted tariffs.
Though lacking the appeal of tech, chemicals are critical for sectors like defense and automotive. Between 2010 and 2024, China’s petrochemical capacity doubled, while Europe’s shrank by 14%. This shift led Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever to call the situation an „existential crisis” during an industry summit in Antwerp.
The challenges are structural. Manufacturing PVC requires massive amounts of electricity, yet EU industrial power prices are double those in the US and China. Local plants also face high carbon costs under the EU ETS (around €75 per ton of CO2). This creates an unlevel playing field against Chinese competitors, who are offloading massive surpluses triggered by the collapse of their domestic real estate boom.
Current EU anti-dumping probes are slow and product-specific. Economists argue that Europe needs broader, US-style trade defense mechanisms. However, the industry is divided; German giant BASF, which recently invested €9 billion in China, opposes blanket trade barriers that could isolate the European market. With standard trade investigations taking up to a year, executives warn that help might arrive long after domestic factories have gone under.
