Chemical companies suspend business with Russia

Clariant, Solvay, Chemours and Novozymes have all announced plans to suspend business with Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. They have all also pledged support for employees in the affected countries and made donations to support relief operations.

Clariant suspended operations with immediate effect. CEO Conrad Keijzer said: “Continuing to do business under these circumstances is incompatible with our purpose and values”. The company has a sales office and a laboratory in Moscow, which contribute about 2% of its sales. It also employs 146 people in Ukraine.

“Many employees of Clariant have taken personal initiative to help their colleagues in the Ukraine or to support aid organisations on the ground,” the firm added. “Clariant encourages these activities and is grateful that the Clariant Foundation has made a donation to UNICEF, which is working with communities in the Ukraine to ensure that children and families in need can be helped right away.”

Likewise, Solvay has decided to suspend its operations and new investments in Russia. It will also suspend dividend payments from Rusvinyl, an independent 50:50 joint venture in Russia and is taking action to support the ongoing humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. The Solvay Solidarity Fund, which was launched in 2020 at the start of the COVID pandemic, has donated €1 million to the Belgian and International Red Cross in support of relief efforts for civilians impacted in Ukraine. It has also committed to matching employees’ private donations to help address the growing humanitarian needs.

“Solvay is deeply saddened by the loss of life and suffering in Ukraine”, said CEO Dr Ilham Kadri. “Our top priority has been the safety of our colleagues in Ukraine. We are taking action to support the ongoing humanitarian efforts to ease the suffering of those impacted by this crisis.”

Chemours, which has a small office in Moscow, has suspended business with Russian entities in response to the crisis. It also announced a $100,000 donation to the International Committee of the Red Cross to support humanitarian efforts in the region.

“Chemours condemns the senseless violence taking place and views continuing business as inconsistent with our company values. As always, we will work to meet the needs of our global customers throughout this process, however, we believe suspending business with Russian entities is the right thing to do,” said Mark Newman, president and CEO.

Danish enzymes giant Novozymes has contributed to donations totalling DKK 55 million to emergency relief efforts in response to the war rhrough the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It will donate an additional DKK 1 million to support refugees coming to Denmark.

“The war has led to serious disruptions in supply chain and trading conditions and Novozymes is unable to deliver products to our customers in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Further Novozymes will no longer ship products to our customers in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus,” the company stated.