Chinese competition and energy prices weigh down European chemicals

Four months of respite. In the absence of a solution, the 450 employees of Vencorex in Pont-de-Claix near Grenoble obtained a reprieve. In mid-October, it turned out that the company in receivership only aroused the interest of one candidate, who was hardly attractive. On November 8, the Lyon commercial court therefore gave the company, as well as the government which is closely monitoring the case, four additional months to find an alternative to the Chinese chemist Wanhua.

The latter, in fact, is none other than Vencorex’s main competitor in the production of isocyanates, a substance used in the composition of industrial paints and varnishes. He only wants to take on 25 employees out of 450. The extremely low prices charged by Wanhua precisely explain the current difficulties of the company, owned by the Thai PTT GC. “ Vencorex is first and foremost the story of an organized bankruptcy, an operation of organized unfair competition…