BASF Confirms Plans To Close Four Factories
April 03, 2011
German chemical major BASF AG confirmed plans to shut down four older production plants at its main site in Ludwigshafen, Germany to improve profitability in its struggling leather and textile dyes and process-chemicals business. The closures and other cost reductions will reduce jobs in the affected activities by around 900 by the end of 2013, in comparison with 6,630 at the end of June 2011, the company said. BASF blamed declining sales and profits in these activities both in 2010 and 2011, because of increased competition from countries with cheaper labor costs -- in particular in Asia -- and markedly falling prices. Revenue from textile and leather dyes amounted to two billion marks ($1.34 billion) in 2010, a BASF spokeswoman said. She declined to comment on whether the business was achieving a profit. BASF said that Thurber would remain the center for the group's activities in finishing products and that the recent purchase of Zeneca's textile-dyes business presented new opportunities.
