January 18, 2025 – BASF Launches Billion-Euro Lawsuit Against Four Firms for Alleged Ethylene Price Manipulation
German chemical giant BASF has recently initiated a lawsuit seeking billions in damages against four companies accused of manipulating ethylene procurement prices.
Confirming the move, BASF officially filed the suit on January 16 against the firms implicated in the ethylene procurement cartel behavior disclosed by the European Commission in July 2020. Cartel behavior refers to an alliance formed among companies through agreements on commodity prices, production volumes, and sales to monopolize the market and obtain high profits.
Earlier, on January 13, Swiss specialty chemicals company Clariant announced on its official website that it had received a claim for damages from BASF totaling 1.4 billion euros (approximately 10.5 billion Chinese yuan) at the Munich Court in Germany on January 9. As one of the defendants, Clariant’s main products include care chemicals, catalysts, adsorbents, and additives.
In a statement, BASF pointed out that the illegal actions of these four ethylene buyers had distorted the pricing of ethylene and certain ethylene derivatives, causing significant losses to the company. Therefore, BASF is actively seeking legal avenues to compensate for these losses.
Ethylene is a crucial chemical raw material for producing plastic products such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). As one of the world’s largest chemical companies, BASF operates 234 production sites globally, producing a wide range of chemicals, including ethylene.
In response to BASF’s accusations, Clariant denied the allegations and stated that it would firmly defend its position in the litigation. Clariant claimed to have sufficient economic evidence proving that its actions did not have any substantial impact on the market.
In July 2020, the European Commission fined Clariant, along with US-based Celanese, Mexico’s Alpek, and US-based Westlake Chemical, for their alleged involvement in the ethylene procurement cartel. All four companies admitted to participating in the cartel and agreed to a settlement. Among them, Clariant was fined 150 million euros (approximately 1.13 billion Chinese yuan).
According to the Color Masterbatch Industry Network, the European Commission determined that from December 2011 to March 2017, these four companies coordinated their price negotiation strategies before and during negotiations for “monthly contract prices” with ethylene sellers to lower prices in their favor. This behavior directly violated EU antitrust regulations and affected ethylene purchase prices in some European regions.
It’s worth noting that BASF is not the first company to file a claim against these four ethylene price-fixing firms. In October 2023, Shell initiated a similar lawsuit in the Amsterdam Court, seeking compensation of 1 billion euros (approximately 7.5 billion Chinese yuan) from the four companies, including Clariant.
Facing consecutive claims for compensation, Clariant reiterated its position and stated that if BASF’s claim is upheld by the court, the four companies, including Clariant, will make individual decisions on how to pay the damages.