Overview
- Evonik announced on Thursday that it will cut about 3,200 jobs worldwide between 2027 and the end of 2029, with roughly 2,150 of those positions in Germany.
- The group will end its loss-making polyester unit, a business that generated about €150 million a year, and will close the Witten plant in 2027 while cutting 45 jobs in Marl and 35 in Shanghai.
- Management says the reductions will be implemented 'socially compatibly' and that details of measures such as early retirement, redeployment and negotiated severance will be worked out with social partners in the coming weeks.
- Evonik frames the moves as a strategic shift toward higher‑margin specialty chemicals and says it will pursue efficiency gains through digitalisation, outsourcing and potential production relocations while exploring a sale of the Syneqt services unit.
- The announcement deepens a wider crisis in Germany's chemical industry caused by high energy costs and low‑cost international competition, a strain the VCI has warned could threaten the sector and that will hit regional economies in North Rhine‑Westphalia hard.