Reduced hours and restructuring for BASF

“The decline in business is greater than expected in November and will negatively impact earnings,” said chairman Dr Jürgen Hambrecht. “We do not expect the economic environment to improve in the coming months.”

Usage rates were reduced at production plants at all six of BASF’s Verbund sites worldwide in mid-November and facilities are now operating, on average, at below 75%. Only demand for products used in crop protection and the food industry are said to remain high.

Plastics plants affected by the cutbacks included LDPE in Nanjing, China, nylon resin in Port Arthur, Texas and Basant, Belgium, and ABS and the PU feedstock MDI, also at Basant. Subsequently, BASF has shut a coatings plant in New Jersey and a facility for butanediol and tetrahydrofuran production in Korea.

Since introducing the cutbacks, BASF has been using flexible working time arrangements at the sites affected. However, as a result of the continuing downturn, it is now introducing a programme of shorter hours.

Commencing in February, some 1,500 employees at the coatings site in Muenster and 180 people at Schwarzheide will work shorter hours. Tentative agreements are also in place for the rapid introduction of reduced time at its main Ludwigshafen site, if necessary.

“We will accelerate the implementation of our existing restructuring and efficiency programs,” said Hambrecht. “The situation remains tough and difficult to predict.”

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