On December 29, 2025, Belgian chemical company Domo Chemicals Group announced that its three German subsidiaries—Domo Chemicals GmbH, Domo Caproleuna GmbH, and Domo Engineering Plastics GmbH—have officially filed for bankruptcy. This bankruptcy event will affect approximately 585 employees, including 515 at the Leuna plant in Germany and 70 at the Premnit Domo engineering plastics plant. A company spokesperson revealed that employee salaries will be secured through insolvency protection measures until the end of March 2026. According to sources close to the company on December 30, the bankruptcy application was actually submitted on December 25, and the Halle District Court ordered the initiation of preliminary proceedings on December 26, appointing Lucas Flöther as the preliminary insolvency administrator. Flöther will primarily be responsible for assessing the company's financial situation and exploring viable restructuring options, including seeking potential investors or reaching settlements with creditors. However, the outcome of the related legal proceedings is not expected to be clarified for several months. Notably, Flöther explicitly stated plans to maintain normal company operations, with daily business, production, and customer deliveries at all locations currently uninterrupted. Public information shows that Domo Chemicals produces a range of chemical products at its Leuna and Premnit plants, including intermediates such as cumene, phenol, acetone, cyclohexanone, caprolactam, and ammonium sulfate, as well as nylon 6 resins and engineering plastics. Although Flöther acknowledged that Domo Chemicals has a "highly capable workforce and a stable, high-quality customer base," he also admitted that the current operating environment in the chemical industry is "extremely challenging." Domo Chemicals attributed the bankruptcy to two core factors: first, persistently weak demand in the European chemical industry, and second, a sharp increase in competitive pressure from polyamide resin imports from non-EU regions, particularly China. It is reported that Domo Chemicals initiated a restructuring plan in 2024, but recent negotiations for additional short-term financing broke down, ultimately forcing the German subsidiaries to seek court protection through bankruptcy. This incident is not an isolated case but rather a reflection of the widespread difficulties faced by medium-sized chemical enterprises in Europe—these companies lack the scale advantages of large integrated producers but bear the same cost pressures and import competition impacts. Currently, European chemical producers are facing sustained pressure from Asian competitors, who hold advantages due to lower raw material and energy costs, while demand in the European region remains weak due to overall economic uncertainty. In response to the challenges, the industry has seen multiple restructuring and capacity optimization initiatives, such as Fibrant's announcement on October 21 to permanently close its caprolactam plant in the Netherlands. The nylon market has been particularly impacted. Although imported nylon is of high quality, the low-price advantage resulting from China's capacity expansion has strongly impacted European domestic producers. Sources indicate that the difficulties faced by Europe's high-energy-consuming chemical manufacturing sector are persistent, with natural gas and electricity costs remaining higher than pre-2022 levels, leading to compressed profit margins in segments such as specialty nylon and standard nylon. Price data also confirms the industry's downturn: between March 2024 and December 2025, European spot prices for phenol and acetone fell by approximately 49% and 61.5%, respectively. More critically, European phenol production costs are significantly higher than international levels, approximately 41% higher than in Southeast Asia and 45% higher than in the Middle East. Analysis suggests that this gap is primarily due to higher energy, raw material, and compliance costs in Europe, as well as the generally aging and less energy-efficient phenol production facilities in the region.