\ is the consequence of Europe's complete lack of energy competitiveness and blind investment in carbon taxes, leading to large-scale deindustrialization across the entire European continent,\ said Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of the multinational chemical giant INEOS, adding that Gladbeck is neither the first nor will it be the last, unless regulatory authorities wake up and take action.

After a \detailed strategic review,\ Ineos recently announced that it will permanently halt its production in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and stated that surging European energy costs, coupled with carbon tax policies, have made Europe uncompetitive in the face of Chinese production and global oversupply.

It is revealed that the Gladbeck plant produces 650,000 tons of phenol annually, making it one of the largest plants of its kind in the world. The plant directly employs 279 workers and indirectly supports over 1,500 jobs.

In recent months, Ratcliffe has been openly criticizing the energy policies of Europe and the UK. After the closure of Ineos's Grangemouth ethanol plant in the UK in January this year, Ratcliffe warned that the UK's chemical manufacturing industry would face \extinction.\ Subsequently, in April, he stated that the UK's carbon emission reduction policies need to be \rethought\ to avoid further plant closures.

According to previous disclosures by the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), the European Union's ambitious environmental regulations add $20 billion in costs to the chemical industry each year.

On the same day, American chemical giant Westlake decided to cease operations at its plant in Pernis, the Netherlands. The plant has an annual capacity of 150,000 tons of bisphenol A and 100,000 tons of liquid epoxy resin. Westlake stated that the \deterioration\ of its European business was the main reason for this decision, with the plant scheduled to close in 2025.

In fact, the rising costs and weak demand brought about by energy and carbon taxes have become the main reasons for the overall decline of the European chemical industry in recent years.

Cefic stated in the latest trend report that globally, the natural gas prices in Europe are 3.3 times higher than those in the United States, putting Europe at a competitive disadvantage. It is projected that between 2025 and 2030, the gap in natural gas prices between Europe and its competitors will remain significantly high, further undermining the competitiveness of the European chemical industry in the global market.

Cefic also stated that since 2022, the chemical industry of the 27 EU countries has been lacking strong domestic demand. In the first quarter of this year, the capacity utilization rate of the chemical industry in the 27 EU countries dropped to 74%, far below the long-term average of 81.4%.

It is worth noting that Ceric, when monitoring the trade patterns of the EU chemical industry, found that the EU's import volume growth far exceeds domestic production. Over the past 20 years, Europe's dependence on chemicals from China has risen from less than 1% in 2004 to 5.6% in 2024. During the same period, the EU-27's dependence on chemical exports to the United States has increased from less than 3.7% in 2004 to 5.1% in 2024. In 2024, China became the largest source of chemical imports for the EU-27 with 33.1 billion euros, followed by the United States (30 billion euros) and the United Kingdom (20.1 billion euros).

Due to the still uncertain economic environment in which European chemical companies operate, the institution expects that the chemical production in the 27 EU countries will grow by less than 0.5% in 2025, lower than the 2.5% in 2024.