Chemical Makers Are Booming as People Buy Ever More Stuff

Europe’s chemicals makers are seeing profits boom because of the shift in consumer habits that Covid 19 wrought on the world.

Germany’s BASF SE, the world’s biggest chemicals maker by sales, this month raised its full-year profit forecast by 40% to at least 7 billion euros ($8.3 billion) citing tight supplies and rising prices. While European oil refiners have been trashed by the virus, those with associated petrochemicals plants are seeing their margins fortified.

The higher prices and profits for chemicals -- that often get turned into plastics -- are a microcosm of inflationary pressures that have been building throughout ...