The world’s largest chemical company, BASF of Germany, on Friday announced that preliminary sales and EBIT before special items in 2023 are lower than expected and slightly below the respective analyst consensus. Additionally, annual EBIT and net income are considerably below the respective analyst consensus, primarily due to non-cash-effective impairments. Expected BASF Group sales for the full year 2023 of about €68.90 billion ($74.9 billion) are below the range of €73 billion to €76 billion forecasted by BASF and below average analyst estimates of €70.58 billion. Sales in 2022 amounted to €…