Ineos to cut a fifth of Hull jobs, blaming ‘dirt-cheap’ imports from China

Ineos, the chemicals company owned by the billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, is to cut a fifth of jobs at its East Yorkshire plant, blaming “sky high” energy costs and “dirt-cheap” imports from China.

The company said it would cut 60 jobs at the Ineos Acetyls site in Hull, which makes petrochemical products such as acetic acid, and said more roles would be at risk across the industry unless the government stepped in.

Ineos said “dirt-cheap carbon-heavy” imports from China were “flooding the market” in Britain and the rest of Europe, after they were deterred from entering the US because of Donald Trump’s tariffs, and called on the UK government and European Commission to launch their own border levies.

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It claimed that many Chinese competitor products made using coal emitted up to eight times more CO2 than Ineos’s UK operations, saying that “more sites will close and thousands more jobs will be lost” across the chemicals sector if “the UK government and European Commission do not support tariffs to protect its industry”.

In June, the petrochemicals company closed its Grangemouth plant, Britain’s oldest oil refinery, on the Firth of Forth with the loss of 400 jobs.

David Brooks, the chief executive 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.”

The Hull announcement comes a day after Ineos shut two plants in Rheinberg in Germany with the loss of 175 jobs. Stephen Dossett, the chief executive of Ineos Inovyn, said: “Europe is committing industrial suicide. While competitors in the US and China benefit from cheap energy, European producers are being priced out by our own policies and absence of tariff protection.”