Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos issues ‘urgent warning’ amid job cuts
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos is to cut 20 per cent of the workforce at its Acetyls plant at Hull, it has been confirmed.
In total, 60 jobs are set to be lost in what the group said was a “direct result of sky-high energy costs and anti-competitive trade practices”.
Confirming the news, Ineos blamed “dirt-cheap carbon-heavy imports from China”, which it said are produced using coal and emitting up to eight times more CO₂ than its own made in the UK” are “now flooding the market”.
The group added that these Chinese products “have been blocked from entering the US by effective tariffs but face no trade barriers in the UK or Europe”.
Ineos said it is now calling on the UK government and European Commission to introduce “urgent anti-dumping tariffs” on Chinese and US importers to protect the chemicals sector.
The company has also warned that unless firm action is taken, “more sites will close and thousands more jobs will be lost, not only at Hull but across the UK and European chemical industry”.
‘We’ve been left with no other choice’
David Brooks, CEO of Ineos Acetyls, said: “This is a very difficult time for everyone at the Hull facility.
“We have a leading-edge, efficient and well-invested site and the team here is highly skilled, professional, and dedicated.
“Making the decision to cut 60 roles was not taken lightly.
“We have explored every possible alternative but in the face of sustained pressure from energy costs, combined with unfairly low-cost imports into the UK and Europe, we’ve been left with no other choice.
“Our priority now is to support those affected and protect the long-term future of the site.”
Ineos recently invested £30m at the Hull site to switch from natural gas to hydrogen, cutting emissions by 75 per cent, the equivalent of taking 160,000 cars off the road.
However, the company has said that without trade defence measures, tariffs will come at the cost of British jobs.
Ineos has also welcomed the UK government’s recent U-turn on its “decision to penalise” the Hull site under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) but warned that “structural problems remain unresolved”.
Ineos: UK and Europe are sleepwalking into deindustrialisation
Brooks added: “This is a textbook case of the UK and Europe sleepwalking into deindustrialisation. INEOS has invested heavily at Hull to cut CO₂, yet we’re being undercut by China and the US while left wide open by a complete absence of tariff protection.
“If governments don’t act now on energy, carbon and trade, we will keep losing factories, skills and jobs. And once these plants shut, they never come back.”
Ineos is the largest producer of acetic acid, acetic anhydride, and ethyl acetate in the UK and Europe.
These chemicals are used for everything from food preservation and pharmaceuticals, including aspirin and paracetamol, to diagnostic tests, adhesives, and industrial coatings.