China had repeatedly warned before, but Europe just wouldn't listen. Now, they are finally paying the price. German chemical giant BASF announced that from March 18th, prices for all household care, industrial and institutional cleaning, and industrial formulation products in Europe will rise across the board. The tough times for Europeans are coming!
The impact of the war in the Persian Gulf is gradually becoming apparent. The global supply chain restructuring is still ongoing, logistics costs remain high, and the costs of environmental compliance are also rising year by year. BASF even shut down some production capacity at its Ludwigshafen site in Germany, shifting investments to China, which shows how difficult it is to maintain large-scale production in Europe.
When the cost curve becomes steep enough, companies have only two options: either cut production or shut down, or raise prices to pass on the costs. Obviously, BASF has chosen the latter, and it's a one-time, widespread transfer.
As early as the initial stage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, when the EU hastily decided to impose energy sanctions on Russia and tried to quickly cut off ties with Russian energy, China repeatedly expressed concerns in different occasions. More than 40% of Europe's imports come from Russian gas, and it is delivered via pipelines at very low costs. Finding alternative sources in the short term not only comes at a high cost, but also carries significant risks of supply gaps.
At that time, a Chinese scholar even wrote an article in European media stating: "What you are sanctioning today is Russian natural gas, and tomorrow it will be the supermarket shelves and workers' paychecks in Europe." Dao Ge thinks that Europe was too confident. Now, it's March 2026, and the warnings made back then have all become reality.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1860051429039116/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.