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Germany’s industrial decline is taking a painful toll on communities that have long relied on local manufacturing titans for jobs, prosperity and a sense of a secure future.<\/p>\n
Among the places affected by the downturn is Ludwigshafen, a company town of chemical giant BASF, which has shed thousands of jobs while shifting its focus to China.<\/p>\n
“The mood is obviously not good,” Sinischa Horvat, chairman of BASF’s works council, which represents staff interests, told AFP during a visit to the city of about 175,000 people.<\/p>\n
“The entire market is currently so weak. When you watch the news, you hardly hear any positive messages.”<\/p>\n
BASF is among Germany’s manufacturing heavyweights in sectors ranging from autos to steel and factory equipment that have been cutting back in their domestic markets.<\/p>\n
They are battling surging energy costs, fierce competition from China, and weak demand at a time when Europe’s biggest economy is mired in a long stagnation.<\/p>\n
Some 2,500 jobs have been axed since 2022 in Ludwigshafen, which is dominated by sprawling chemical plants that stretch along the river Rhine, and more cuts are set to come.<\/p>\n
A recent decision to sell off thousands of company-owned apartments, many occupied by current and former workers, has added to unease.<\/p>\n
“The sale of these apartments sends a signal to the city and to the people who live here and, in some cases, work at BASF — BASF is scaling back its operations,” Patrick Thiel, who lives in one of the apartments and works at the firm, told AFP.<\/p>\n
“There is growing concern that this won’t stop at the apartments but will also affect the main plant,” added the 29-year-old, who also ran as a candidate in recent local polls for far-left party Die Linke.<\/p>\n
– China push –<\/p>\n
Horvat said having BASF staff in the properties helped created a “symbiosis” between company and community.<\/p>\n
“This has fostered an understanding of chemistry and shaped the relationship with BASF in the city,” he said.<\/p>\n
BASF — a supplier of base inputs to the agricultural, automotive and pharmaceutical sectors — says the proceeds will go to bolstering its core businesses, but acknowledged that the sale had “raised uncertainties”.<\/p>\n
A company spokeswoman however insisted that it would handle the sale responsibly, adding: “No one has to fear losing their home.”<\/p>\n
“We will continue to see ourselves as an integral part of the local community in the future,” she said.<\/p>\n
Underlining its commitment to Ludwigshafen, where the group has over 30,000 employees — around a third of its global workforce — \u00a0BASF has agreed to hold off on compulsory redundancies there until at least 2028 and continue investing.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
But as it cuts back at home, the world’s biggest chemical firm is investing heavily overseas, last month inaugurating a vast 8.7 billion euro ($10 billion) complex in China, its biggest ever single investment project.<\/p>\n
It insists that building up its presence in China, the world’s biggest chemical market, is crucial.<\/p>\n
– Job losses –<\/p>\n
BASF is far from the only German company suffering.<\/p>\n
Last year industrial companies cut 124,000 jobs, around double the figure in 2024, with hefty losses in particular found in the struggling auto sector, a study by consultancy EY showed.<\/p>\n
Germany’s manufacturing sector shrunk to a share of 19.5 percent of the country’s economy in 2025, according to official figures — its lowest level for many years.<\/p>\n
“The loss of industrial jobs in Germany has accelerated in the past two years,” Marcel Fratzscher, president of the DIW economic institute told AFP.<\/p>\n
“Companies that used to be the pride of Germany are suffering.”<\/p>\n
Areas that have already suffered industrial job losses see greater social problems and offer fertile ground for fringe parties, such as the far-right Alternative or Germany (AfD), to pick up support, experts warn.<\/p>\n
Still, Fratzscher said that Germany had undergone economic upheavals before, and urged politicians and companies to try to ensure the economy emerges stronger.<\/p>\n
The current economic transformation should be seen “as an opportunity to move into sectors that have better margins, better jobs,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The biggest mistake we can make is to try to cement the status quo, to keep all companies exactly the same. That would lead to a much bigger deindustrialisation.”<\/p>\n
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