Quo Vadis, Chemical Distribution?

© FECC

Working in the chemical industry never used to be boring. There were always new challenges to overcome, especially in Europe. Starting with energy and raw material prices, which have historically always ranked at the upper end in international comparison, to withstand the enormous competitive pressure from new capacities or new technology, e.g., from the "second wind" of the US chemical industry in the wake of the shale gas boom, through to the sustainability agenda, transformation pressure, and regulatory over-complexity.

However, what we have been seeing for almost a year now, especially since the beginning of April 2025, surpasses anything we have seen before in terms of intensity, particularly in the succession and accumulation of simultaneous and intensifying crises. Corona seems to have quietly, clumsily, and secretly ushered in a new era of continuous disruption, and the times when everything could still be planned with some degree of certainty seem light-years away. While the pandemic turned our everyday habits upside down, our business processes and supply chains have since been put to the test. No end in sight yet.

On the contrary, the tariff policy that has been in place in the US since the beginning of April—a kind of market power play to force almost all long-standing US trading partners to behave in a certain way—is causing even more turmoil on the markets and adding to the general uncertainty and complexity. What's more, in many cases, what the US government communicated to the media yesterday no longer applies today. And even if the US were to withdraw all tariffs immediately and without restrictions tomorrow, a great deal of trust would have been lost with its existing partners; the damage to its reputation is already enormous.