Esseco Industrial: a forward-looking chemical industry, despite everything

At its IV Quarterly Meeting 2025, Esseco Industrial took stock of a challenging year for the European chemical industry—marked by global instability and new competitive pressures—while outlining its vision for the future: investing to grow, even in the most difficult times.

The global outlook remains critical. High energy costs, weak demand, Chinese overcapacity and intense international tensions are reshaping supply chains. European industry is weighed down by bureaucracy, taxation, slow permitting processes and a lack of investment in R&D. Adding to this fragile picture are growing supply-side difficulties: traditional suppliers no longer guarantee continuity, while reports of production shutdowns, plant closures and delays are increasing. Even specialty segments are coming under mounting pressure, confirming that this is a systemic crisis, not merely a cyclical one.

Despite everything, Esseco Industrial is not standing still. On the contrary, it is pushing forward. For the next three years, the company has launched its most ambitious industrial plan ever, spanning all production sites within the holding. The goal is to strengthen core products, ensure operational continuity, anticipate regulatory changes and accelerate technological innovation—a clear choice rooted in vision, consistency and resilience.

Adaptability is the key word. The company is working to reduce its energy footprint, make raw material management more flexible and respond to change with more advanced and dynamic plants. The availability and quality of resources can no longer be taken for granted: new suppliers, new geographies and new technical tools are essential to ensure efficiency and continuity.

This path is supported by the M.A.C.R.O. strategy (Merging, Acquisition, Capex, Reducing Opex): an integrated plan that combines growth through external lines, cost optimization, industrial consolidation and a long-term perspective.

The industrial strategy clearly targets higher value-added sectors—personal care, food and pharmaceuticals—and the most promising markets, such as Spain and the United States. Conversely, resource allocation is being ruled out for sectors currently hardest hit in Europe, including automotive, construction, paper and textiles, where the crisis appears structural.

This is a phase of transition—but also one of maturation. Esseco Industrial emerges more aware, ready to step outside its comfort zone and to choose, with clarity, where and how to invest. Because the world does not wait. And the chemistry of the future is being built today.