US chemicals firm Dow will provide some details about its plans for its European business next month, chief financial officer Jeff Tate said today.
The company announced a strategic review of its European polyurethane assets in October, which is due to be completed by mid-2025.
The firm will share some decisions in its first-quarter earnings call scheduled for 24 April and more decisions will be shared at the second-quarter earnings call in July, Tate said, promising "incremental updates".
Dow's sales volumes in Europe are 20pc lower than pre-Covid, Tate said. But energy costs have risen. "We feel it's prudent to take action around our footprint in Europe. Because we don't see that recovering any time soon," Tate said.
The focus will be on Dow's more commoditised products, "particularly those which are more energy intensive", Tate said. That means polyurethanes in particular, and also siloxanes, he said.
Olefins and plastics and packaging are not directly under consideration, Tate said, aside from one-off decisions such as the idling of one of its three crackers at Terneuzen in the Netgerlands through delayed maintenance.
Prolonged weak consumer demand, geopolitical uncertainty and its effect on energy costs, and a high level of regulation have all affected Europe's global competitiveness in the petrochemicals sector, Tate said.
Dow's strategic review is part of a wider pattern in the European petrochemicals industry. LyondellBassell announced a similar review in May 2024 and although it has not yet formally announced any resulting decisions, unions last week agreed a plan for the closure of the Lyondell-operated Maasvlakte POSM unit by 1 October.
