BASF To Temporarily Close 80 Plants, Cut Production

Frankfurt, Germany (AHN) - BASF SE announced Wednesday it will temporarily close 80 plants worldwide and cut production at a 100 other locations in order to get capacity closer in-line with declining demand.

It is estimated that roughly 20,000 workers worldwide will be affected, including those at the company's plants in Louisiana and Texas.

Workers at the company's main site, in Ludwigshafen, Germany will be impacted the most. The company has signed an agreement with the workers council that will impact 5,000 jobs at the location.

"We already drew attention to the difficult economic situation at the end of October. Since then, customer demand in key markets has declined significantly," said Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, in a company statement. "In particular, customers in the automotive industry have canceled orders at short notice."

Plants that supply the automotive, textile and construction industries will be affected the most as those three areas see the largest decline in demand.

BASF also said it no longer expects to match last year's earnings and was unable to offer updated guidance due to the uncertain economic environment.

BASF is the world's leading chemical company and has more than 95,000 employees wordwide.