China is killing Europe’s chemicals industry. Brussels wants to intervene. – POLITICO

“We cannot stand idly by while other countries such as China massively dump goods on our market,” he said.

From soap to plastic

A canal connects Antwerp to Vynova’s Flemish plant, in a wooded corner of the Tessenderlo municipality. The location was first put to use as a soap factory in 1892, and it started making chemicals in 1972.

With its conical storage towers and fluted distillation columns, the sprawling site peeks through the trees lining the road. Beyond the security gate lie heaps of what looks like unseasonal snow — the powder is regular salt, sodium chloride, the kind you can sprinkle on your food. It’s brought in by the bargeload, 2,000 tons a day.

The salt is dissolved in water, and an electric current is run through it to separate out the chlorine in a process called electrolysis. The chlorine is then combined with hydrocarbon molecules and distilled. The result is shipped to another plant for its final transformation into PVC.

It’s an energy-intensive process — Vynova’s plant uses as much electricity as the entire city of Antwerp — and EU electricity prices for industry are double those paid by its U.S. and Chinese competitors.

The European chemicals sector, like other energy-intensive industries, is also subject to one of the world’s highest carbon prices under the EU Emissions Trading System — currently around €75 per ton of CO2. The industry complains that this adds extra costs that Chinese competitors don’t face.