Some of Europe’s largest industrial end-users are accelerating their search for more competitive natural gas in markets such as North America, but growing uncertainty about the U.S.-China trade war is complicating economic outlooks.
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After another quarter of high energy prices cutting into its margins, Dow Inc. disclosed it was expanding its plans to shut down or idle production units in Europe. Dow’s expanded review could lead to idling or closing two units in Germany and the shutdown of a facility in the UK.
COO Karen Carter said during a 1Q2025 call with analysts that Dow had previously guided that natural gas and power prices would remain a risk through the beginning of the year, but “expected these prices to moderate” during 1Q2025. Instead, markets remained volatile and continued to compress the company’s margins, especially in its packaging and speciality plastics segment.