Who Absorbs Barry?
Dow's Barry closure takes roughly a third of Europe's basic-siloxane capacity off the map. We trace where 150,000 tonnes a year has to reappear, and what it does to the plants that take it.
"Who absorbs Barry?"
Dow is closing its basic-siloxanes plant in Barry, on the South Wales coast, with the shutdown starting in mid-2026 and wind-down complete by end-2027.
Around 220 positions go with it, negotiated down from some 300 at risk, part of the roughly 800 roles Dow is cutting across the three European upstream assets it marked for closure in July 2025.
The trade press filed it under jobs. We file it under capacity.
A plant closing is an edit to the global supply curve. Somewhere a line item goes to zero, and the volume it used to make has to come from somewhere else or not at all.
For a buyer of the affected grades, the number that matters is utilization at whatever plants pick up the slack.
That number is what sets the nomination letter you get next quarter. So let's go find it.
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