Global chemical company Ineos has urged the UK Government to act on carbon-intensive imports after cutting 60 jobs at its Hull acetyls plant. The company blamed high energy costs and “carbon-heavy dumping” from China, warning that without trade protection, Europe risks offshoring CO2 emissions as industries investing in decarbonisation lose competitiveness.
Ineos said Chinese imports are produced using coal and emit up to eight times more CO2 than equivalent products made in the UK. These imports are flooding the market after being blocked from the US by tariffs but face no equivalent barriers in Europe.
“This is a textbook case of the UK and Europe sleepwalking into deindustrialisation,” said David Brooks, CEO of Ineos Acetyls. “We’re being undercut by China and the US while left wide open by a complete absence of tariff protection.”
… to continue reading this article and more, please login, register for free, or consider subscribing to gasworld
You’ve reached your weekly limit to access free articles!
Want to keep reading?
Please register for free and create a profile to gain access to this full article and gasworld’s daily news.
For access to more content including our monthly digital magazines, subscriber-only features or columns and all our other gasworld archives, please consider subscribing.
Alternatively, you can continue reading more articles as a guest on Tuesday, 14th October at 3:28PM
