Chimcomplex (CRC), the leading producer and supplier of vital chemicals in the region, announces its preliminary (unaudited) financial results as of December 31, 2025. Chimcomplex recorded a turnover of 1,063 million lei in 2025, compared to 1,495 million lei in 2024, down 29%. The company ended the year with a positive EBITDA of 62 million lei, but with a net loss of 179 million lei. CRC recorded this negative result as a result of the 30% increase in the price of natural gas and 15% in the price of electricity, given that these increases came after the increases in 2024, of +78% for natural gas and +37% for electricity.
Chimcomplex ended the year with total assets of 2,904 million lei and equity of 1,856 million lei. In 2025, the company invested 58 million lei (CAPEX) on the Onești and Râmnicu Vâlcea platforms, from its own sources.
Europe is going through a deep industrial crisis
Europe is going through a deep industrial crisis, which was also highlighted earlier this year by the CEFIC (European Chemical Industry Council) report, prepared by Roland Berger (a leading consulting company). The document shows the extent of the decline of the European industry and qualifies it as unprecedented and worrying:
- Between 2022 and 2025, the rate of chemical plant closures increased six times compared to the average of previous years, exceeding 160 chemical platforms.
- The total production capacity permanently closed reached over 37 million tons, and the cumulative closures represent over 10% of the production capacity of the whole of Europe.
- The European chemical industry lost 200,000 direct jobs and another 890,000 indirect jobs.
- Investments in the European chemical industry fell by over 84%, indicating a major economic downturn and a decline in confidence in the continental business environment.
- Over 74% of companies ended 2025 with negative EBITDA (Chimcomplex ended the year with positive EBITDA due to the complexity of its product families and its less exposed positioning in the east of the continent).
- The trend will continue; only companies supported by their states and positioned in market niches, with average capacities or with regional advantages (a pattern that Chimcomplex also falls into) will survive.
In this context, many European governments have already started programs of measures, at an accelerated pace, to support their industry. Romania must decide whether to defend its production or accept becoming a consumer market, including for vital substances, such as those used in the production of drinking water.
Before 1989, the chemical industry in Romania had 72 plants. Today, Chimcomplex remains one of the very few producers and suppliers of vital chemicals in the region. The company supports national economic security, specialized jobs, exports, taxes, Romanian suppliers and functional communities. If Romania loses this industrial core as well, no one will ever be able to rebuild it, because restarting it involves enormous costs.
Romania needs a country plan
The preliminary (unaudited) financial results as of December 31, 2025 show that, beyond the effort of the Chimcomplex team, Romania needs a country plan with courageous and coordinated measures to restore industrial competitiveness and secure jobs for future generations: competitive energy, CO2 compensation, anti-dumping protection and reindustrialization. The future belongs to countries with strong independent industry that consolidate their economic autonomy, which has also been confirmed in the health crisis. Chimcomplex has prepared a country plan, which includes 1,250 measures, and can make it available to the Government, if it expresses interest.
“On February 24, 2026, the Romanian Government approved the package of measures for economic recovery, which does not contain significant interventions to support the chemical industry. The Government plan lacks direct measures to reduce electricity and gas prices, as well as schemes to support the energy-intensive sector, although the chemical industry remains strongly affected by energy costs, with values up to 300% higher than in Asia (China, India, Korea, etc.), North America, the Arab countries, the Middle East and Africa. At the same time, other European countries apply firm policies to support the energy transition and to protect strategic industries, through direct subsidies and schemes dedicated to industrial competitiveness,” said Chimcomplex General Director, Ștefan Vuza.
“I recall that, in November 2025, the IMF published the report on Romania. The main conclusions indicate the need for reforms to support industry, increase industrial productivity and investment, structural reforms to improve industrial efficiency, as well as policies to support the industrial sector and attract the investments necessary for development.
We are not concerned about the fact that Chimcomplex ended the year with negative results, because, at the European level, 74% of the companies in the industry ended the year the same way (cyclicality is specific to the chemical industry), and we can cover the loss from the results of previous years.
We are concerned about the lack of a perspective for the next four years, and it is important that the Romanian Government understands to support energy-intensive industries. The current economic recovery program is at the opposite pole to the measures applied by Germany (which capped energy and gas prices) or by France, Spain and other European states, which know that the national economy will collapse without industry. Therefore, the Romanian program must be complemented with what other European governments have also applied,” Vuza added.
The official also said that the governments of the countries affected by the crisis have understood that the negative effects will certainly appear, even if they are seen later, in the mandate of the next government, and will affect the macro-economic long-term of the entire country.
“They decided to be brave, to act now. Romania is still hesitating, and this hesitation maintains the advantages of energy intermediaries, while the real economy bears the costs”.
Closures of sections and layoffs
Consequently, Chimcomplex has decided that starting with April 2026 it will apply scenario 3, out of the six work scenarios, which provides for:
- Shutting down energy-intensive sections and laying off at least 1,200 employees vertically and 5,500 horizontally within Chimcomplex and implicitly its partners. At the Borzești Chimcomplex Plant, one out of 7 manufacturing plants will be shut down, and at Rm. Vâlcea, 2 out of 11.
- The shutdown of two out of five investment projects in production, because the business environment has become unpredictable. These investments earned from PNRR funds have as a secondary effect the loss of non-reimbursable financing for Romania, in the amount of 150 million euros.
- The development of the Trade Division, which will annually import chemical products worth another 1.2 billion euros from countries with correct energy policies, which may increase Romania’s current account deficit by another 15% in the chemical products segment.
“For clarity, before considering this package of measures, we met with representatives of the Presidency and the Government in seven meetings held in the last six months. We presented the situation of the chemical industry in Romania and demonstrated, based on documents, that the state is wrong when it does not support energy-intensive industries, such as chemistry and metallurgy.
We received the answer that the program will include measures identical to those in other European countries. Now, after its publication, we note that these measures have disappeared and that influencers in the energy industry have had a better lobby.
Intermediaries remain the main winners, and producers and the population bear the costs. Energy will remain at high levels, the most expensive in Europe, although Romania can ensure prices lower by 40%. The budget would not suffer; on the contrary, it would strengthen and gain by relaunching the national real economy.
For this reason, we will apply the conservation plan for part of the group’s production capacities because “in chemistry there is no death, only lack of reaction”, Vuza also said.
The implementation of the 3-measure package aims to return Chimcomplex to profit within a year at most. However, the Romanian economy will feel the impact strongly and will need time to recover, with an estimate of at least four years,” concluded Ștefan Vuza.
