Bad news! A wave of layoffs is sweeping Germany’s major industrial firms—brutal and severe.

Meanwhile, automotive supplier Schaeffler aims to cut 4,700 jobs in Europe—including 2,800 in Germany alone—as it contends with declining demand and intensifying industry competition. Volkswagen announced that up to 30,000 positions could be at risk. ZF Friedrichshafen plans to lay off 11,000 employees to navigate the transition toward electric vehicles. Layoffs spreading across industry According to the weekly magazine Focus, large-scale job cuts are also underway across Germany’s traditional and tech sectors, driven by deteriorating business conditions and increasingly difficult circumstances in Europe. BASF management announced a 2022 austerity plan, primarily triggered by a sharp surge in natural gas prices. Earlier this year, another austerity plan—entailing layoffs—was announced. By the end of 2024, the chemical company will cut nearly 3,300 jobs globally, including 2,500 in Ludwigshafen. BASF recently announced the closure of three plants in Ludwigshafen; production of adipic acid—a key plastic intermediate—will cease. Chemical company Evonik also plans layoffs. The company will discontinue ketonic acid production in Hanau by year-end, affecting approximately 260 employees. Bayer, the chemical and pharmaceutical giant, intends to cut 1,500 jobs. A large-scale restructuring program is currently underway. ThyssenKrupp expects its workforce to shrink from 27,000 to 16,000 positions. Its plant in Kreuztal, North Rhine-Westphalia, will close. Renowned home appliance manufacturer Miele plans to eliminate around 1,300 jobs in Germany by 2028, with its Gütersloh site particularly hard-hit. “We must adapt to new market requirements,” said a company spokesperson. Deutsche Bahn—the German national railway, notorious for delays—will cut 30,000 jobs. The technology and finance sectors are also affected. Software giant SAP announced it will cut up to 10,000 jobs globally. Deutsche Bank is transforming its private client business. Commerzbank’s layoffs form part of its restructuring effort, though exact numbers remain unclear. Multinational corporations operating in Germany are also cutting staff significantly due to the energy crisis and other factors. U.S. automaker Ford plans to cut 2,900 jobs in Germany by the end of 2027—most of them at its Cologne plant. Specific details are currently under discussion with employee representatives. Across Europe, Ford expects to eliminate roughly 4,000 positions by end-2027. In 2023 and 2024, Ford invested nearly €2 billion in its Cologne plant to enable EV production. Two Ford electric vehicles are now rolling off the Cologne assembly line—but high expectations have yet to be fulfilled. Even Tesla—widely seen as thriving—is planning to cut 3,000 jobs in Germany, impacting its Grünheide factory near Berlin. Earlier this year, Amazon and Google announced plans to cut thousands of jobs in Germany—particularly in hardware and artificial intelligence divisions.

INEOS Styrolution shuts down plants; Evonik exits polyester business entirely! A wave of shutdowns intensifies in June—what is the global chemical industry brewing?

1 INEOS Styrolution: 400,000 tonnes of capacity eliminated; reshaping North America’s PS landscape INEOS Styrolution, the world’s leading producer of high-performance styrenics, announced on June 22, 2026, that it will permanently shut down its polystyrene (PS) production facility in Channahon, Illinois, USA, before the end of Q4. This plant—operational since 1960 and over 60 years old—has an annual capacity of approximately 400,000 tonnes and will affect around 100 employees. Source: INEOS Styrolution The core reason for the shutdown is persistent margin compression and industry-wide overcapacity. Steve Harrington, CEO of INEOS Styrolution, stated: “Industry overcapacity continues to exert pressure, shrinking profit margins and straining our North American operations.” As part of its asset optimization strategy, the company will consolidate its three North American PS production sites into two—retaining its Decatur, Alabama, and Altamira, Mexico, facilities. In November 2025, the company had already announced the permanent closure of its PS plant in Wingles, France, as part of broader strategic restructuring aimed at enhancing competitiveness across its European operations. 2 Evonik: Global exit from polyester business; 6,000 jobs to be cut over two years On June 18, German chemical giant Evonik Industries AG announced two major strategic adjustments: first, it will further advance structural optimization globally, aiming to eliminate approximately 3,200 positions between 2027 and the end of 2029—with about 2,150 of those in Germany; second, it will shut down its global polyester business by 2027. Source: Evonik This shutdown affects production facilities in Witten and Marl (Germany) and Shanghai (China), resulting in workforce adjustments for a total of 346 employees. The affected products are saturated polyester resins used in coatings and adhesives. This business generates annual sales of approximately €150 million but has failed to achieve profitability for years. Dr. Jinli Qiao, Head of Evonik’s Customized Solutions Business Unit, stated: “From an economic perspective, discontinuing the polyester business and closing related production facilities is unavoidable. Intensifying global competition, structural disadvantages in Europe, and weak market demand render all alternative options incapable of ensuring long-term sustainable development for this business.” Combined with the previously announced ‘Evonik Custom’ efficiency initiative launched in October 2023—which targets the elimination of approximately 2,800 positions by end-2026—the two rounds of workforce optimization will collectively reduce headcount by over 6,000. Dr. Klaus Engel, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Evonik, remarked: “Current global political developments are fraught with uncertainty, economic growth remains sluggish, and international competition is growing ever fiercer.” 3 LyondellBasell: Shutting down PP plant; divesting European polyolefin assets On June 11, LyondellBasell confirmed plans to permanently shut down its sole remaining 260,000-tonne-per-year polypropylene (PP) unit at its Brindisi, Italy, site by the end of 2026. Commissioned in 1982, this was the world’s first Spheripol-process PP plant, producing mainly PP homopolymers for packaging applications. The shutdown will directly impact 81 employees and indirectly affect approximately 150 others across upstream and downstream supply chains. The core reason behind the shutdown exemplifies a classic case of “supply chain breakdown”: Eni Group’s local cracker facility ceased operations in April 2025, completely severing domestic propylene feedstock supply; raw materials must now be imported via long-distance sea freight, drastically increasing transportation costs; and persistently weak end-market demand for PP in Europe has fully eroded the plant’s profitability.

Evonik to Close Two German Production Sites by 2027

Sep 16, 2026

Evonik announced plans to close its Hamburg and Bitterfeld production sites by 2027, citing structural inefficiencies and cost competitiveness. This move is part of a broader restructuring strategy to exit bulk polyester business and focus on specialty additives and new energy materials.

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