"We increased sales prices by 25 percent and volumes by 11 percent," says Brudermüller: "All segments achieved both price and volume increases last year." At 78.6 billion euros, the BASF Group's sales in 2021 were 33 percent higher than in the previous year.

At EUR 11.3 billion, EBITDA pre exceptionals in 2021 was EUR 3.9 billion higher and EBITDA at EUR 11.4 billion was EUR 4.9 billion higher than in the previous year.

The result from operating activities (EBIT) before special items more than doubled compared to 2020 and amounted to 7.8 billion euros. Compared to the level before the pandemic in 2019, this is an increase of 67%. BASF's positive earnings performance was primarily driven by the Chemicals and Materials segments. However, the Surface Technologies and Industrial Solutions segments also made a significant contribution to the strong recovery.

The return on capital employed (ROCE) amounted to 13.5% after 1.7% in the previous year and was significantly higher than the cost of capital of 9%. The increase in ROCE was primarily due to the rise in EBIT, which at EUR 7.7 billion in 2021 was significantly higher than in the previous year.

Additional costs due to higher energy prices in Europe

BASF's automotive-related business continued to be impacted by the consequences of the semiconductor shortage. In 2021, higher raw material prices and increased costs for energy and logistics also had a negative impact on earnings development in all segments, particularly in the fourth quarter. For BASF's European sites, the additional costs due to the further rise in natural gas prices amounted to around EUR 1.5 billion in 2021. Of this, €0.8 billion was incurred in the fourth quarter alone.

Brudermüller announced: "We will implement further significant price increases in the coming months in order to pass on the significantly higher costs and improve our margins in the downstream businesses." The established processes for pricing in these consumer-related businesses lead to a time lag in passing on costs.

Achievement of non-financial targets

BASF's goal is to reduce its absolute_{CO2 emissions} by 25 percent by 2030 compared to the base year 2018. In 2021,_{CO2 emissions} amounted to 20.2 million tons. This is a reduction compared to the 20.8 million tons emitted in 2020. "This reduction is remarkable, as our volumes grew strongly at the same time," says Brudermüller.

BASF has achieved its sales target of €22 billion in 2025 with products that make a significant contribution to sustainability in the value chain much earlier than planned. This is because sales of these Accelerator products already amounted to €24.1 billion in 2021. "We will therefore adjust this management target in the course of this year," says Brudermüller.

Investments in growth projects

BASF plans to invest €25.6 billion in the years 2022 to 2026, €2.7 billion more than in the previous planning period from 2021 to 2025. "The main reason for this is our two major growth projects: the new Verbund site in Zhanjiang and our activities in the field of battery materials," says Hans-Ulrich Engel: "These two projects are crucial for BASF's future growth."

Investments in the existing business will remain stable at an average level of 2.6 billion euros per year. Engel announced that BASF will be very disciplined with the investments required to maintain and grow the existing businesses profitably in the future. "This will enable us to finance growth projects at an average level of around EUR 2.6 billion per year. Investments for our growth projects will peak in 2024," says Engel. For 2022, BASF plans total investments of 4.6 billion euros, compared to 3.4 billion euros in 2021. The annual budget for research and development activities amounts to around 2.1 billion euros.

Outlook for 2022

"We got off to a very strong start to the year and achieved good figures in January 2022 compared to the same month last year," said Martin Brudermüller with a view to the current financial year.

Following the very strong recovery last year, the global economy is expected to grow at a slightly more moderate rate of 3.8% in 2022. "The order backlog in industry is high. We therefore expect global industrial production to grow by 3.8 percent and chemical production by 3.5 percent," says Brudermüller. BASF anticipates an average oil price of 75 US dollars/barrel Brent and an exchange rate of 1.15 US dollars/euro.

Based on these assumptions, the company anticipates sales of between €74 billion and €77 billion in 2022. The company expects EBIT before special items for the BASF Group to be between €6.6 billion and €7.2 billion. ROCE is expected to be between 11.4 percent and 12.6 percent._{CO2 emissions} are expected to amount to between 19.6 million tons and 20.6 million tons in 2022.

In its forecast ranges, BASF takes into account uncertainties resulting in particular from the effects of ongoing supply chain disruptions, the further course of the coronavirus pandemic and the development of energy prices.