Dhaka, March 23 -- In a spartan office adorned with plastic pots and detergent packaging at German chemical company Gechem, owner Martina Nighswonger feels she's running out of options.

After years battling the fallout from the global pandemic, the spike in energy costs triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and then punishing U.S. tariffs, war in the Middle East is ramping up the cost of key raw materials once again.

"There's just no letup. Every year profits get a little smaller, and eventually they're gone," Nighswonger said at the firm's plant in Kleinkarlbach, where she now holds daily crisis meetings and takes out her frustrations on a punching bag. "It's exhausting, and you just don't know what to do anymore."

Gechem, which m...