Interviewed by the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, the managing director of the plant protection company BASF spoke about the consequences of the increase in energy prices on the company.
The question arises whether commodities in particular can still be produced competitively in Europe and Germany in the long term.
Starting next year, the group will make decisions about the production of more energy-intensive materials such as ammonia.
Rising raw material and energy prices could only be partially passed on to higher selling prices.
BASF is therefore already making energy substitutions from gas or fuel oil. The group also plans to relocate part of its activities to the United States, where gas prices are much more attractive than in Europe after the sanctions on Russian gas and the cessation of supplies from Russia.
We believe that in the long run they will be about three times higher in Europe than in the United States, if only because of the higher costs of liquefied natural gas.
