Industrial chemicals have been produced on the banks of the River Elbe outside the city of Wittenberg for more than a century, from the Kaiser era through wars, communism and the chaotic collapse of East Germany.
Then came Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine and a crisis without parallel for SKW Stickstoffwerke Piesteritz, which traces its pedigree in producing specialized chemicals for agriculture and industry back to 1915.
The loss of access to Russian natural gas meant a dramatic increase in costs for energy-intensive industries across Europe, from chemicals makers to autos and machinery. The government in Berlin has made inroads finding replacements since cutting off fossil-fuel imports from Russia following the 2022 invasion, yet the consequences are still playing out for companies like SKW Piesteritz, Germany’s biggest producer of ammonia and urea.