Key facts
- Ineos is cutting 60 jobs at its Acetyls site in Hull, UK.
- The company blames "sky high" energy costs and "dirt-cheap" imports from China for the job cuts.
- Ineos warned that thousands more jobs could be lost across the chemicals sector without government intervention.
- The Hull site produces petrochemicals such as acetic acid, acetic anhydride, and ethyl acetate.
- Ineos recently invested £30 million at the Hull site to switch from natural gas to hydrogen, reducing emissions by 75%.
- Ineos also recently closed two plants in Rheinberg, Germany, resulting in 175 job losses.
Ineos, the chemicals company owned by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, is cutting 60 jobs at its East Yorkshire plant in Hull, blaming "sky high" energy costs and "dirt-cheap" imports from China. The company stated that more roles are at risk across the industry unless the government intervenes with tariffs.
According to Ineos, "dirt-cheap carbon-heavy" imports from China are "flooding the market" in Britain and Europe, having been deterred from entering the US due to tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. The company is calling on the UK government and European Commission to implement similar border levies. Ineos claims that many Chinese competitor products made using coal emit up to eight times more CO2 than its UK operations, warning that "more sites will close and thousands more jobs will be lost" if tariffs are not introduced.
In June, Ineos closed its Grangemouth plant, Britain's oldest oil refinery, resulting in the loss of 400 jobs. David Brooks, chief executive of Ineos Acetyls, described the situation as a "textbook case of the UK and Europe sleepwalking into deindustrialisation," highlighting that Ineos has invested heavily in cutting CO2 emissions at the Hull site while being undercut by competitors and lacking tariff protection.
Separately, Ineos is facing challenges with its automotive division, which aims to move production of its Grenadier off-roader vehicle to the US to avoid 15% tariffs on European car imports. Additionally, energy group Shell announced it expects a $600 million hit in the third quarter from abandoning its biofuels project in Rotterdam due to technical problems and a lack of competitiveness.