FRANKFURT, Nov 19: A sharp fall in demand forced the world’s biggest chemical company, BASF, to unveil global output cuts and suspended operations at 80 plants on Wednesday, moves that will affect 20,000 workers.

“BASF was preparing for tough times,” a company statement quoted chairman Juergen Hambrecht as saying.

“We are responding flexibly to market developments and are acting quickly,” he added.

The group would temporarily shut down 80 sites and reduce operations at 100 others in Europe, Asia and North America, and dropped its 2008 profit target.

It expected the closures to last until early January, but was ready to reboot production quickly if demand picked up, a spokeswoman told AFP.

A total of 20,000 staff would be affected, including 5,000 at the group’s headquarters in southwestern Ludwigshaven, BASF said.

It did not foresee outright layoffs for now. The company planned to use “flexible working time arrangements” to adapt in coming months.

Once such measures had been exhausted however, “the company cannot rule out the need for short-time working at individual sites worldwide,” a statement said. In late Oct, the group had already signalled potential problems, but “since then, customer demand in key markets has declined significantly,” Hambrecht said.—AFP