BASF says 7,000 jobs cut worldwide since 2024

BASF said Wednesday it has cut around 7,000 jobs worldwide since 2024, as the German chemicals group reported stronger results and said staff reductions would continue.

Chief executive Markus Kamieth said on an earnings call that two-thirds of the cuts were in Germany.

"We have further accelerated the pace to make our organisation leaner and more efficient," Kamieth said. He added that more positions were eliminated in the first half of 2026 than in the previous two years combined.

Including business units BASF has sold, the group's workforce has fallen from almost 112,000 people at the end of 2024 to 95,000 now.

Employee numbers at BASF's historic Ludwigshafen site, open since 1865, have fallen below 30,000 for the first time since 1954.

BASF said earlier in July that net profit of 4.1 billion euros beat forecasts of about 2.4 billion euros. It now expects core profit for the year of between 6.9 billion and 7.7 billion euros, up from an earlier range of 6.2 billion to 7.0 billion euros.

The company raised its outlook after higher sales, saying nervous customers stocked up because of the war in the Middle East and the near total closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil and petrochemical products.

Kamieth said headcount reductions would continue for some time, without giving a specific figure.