BASF to build engineering plastics, thermoplastic polyurethanes plants in China

BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany) plans to build an engineering plastics compounding plant and a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) plant at the company’s proposed integrated chemical production site, called Verbund, in Zhanjiang, China. These will be the first production plants to come onstream at the site.

By 2022, the new engineering plastics compounding plant will supply an additional capacity of 60,000 metric tons per year of BASF engineering plastics compounds in China, bringing the total BASF capacity of these products in Asia Pacific to 290,000 metric tons per year. As part of the company’s plan to implement a comprehensive smart manufacturing concept at the  site based on cutting-edge technologies, the new plants will utilize automated packaging, high-tech control systems and automated guided vehicles.

General facilities for the Zhanjiang Verbund site will also be built along with the two new plants. BASF Integrated Site (Guangdong) Co. Ltd (BIG), BASF’s new wholly-owned subsidiary, has been officially founded. This entity will oversee the operations of the new Verbund site, underlining BASF’s commitment to the southern China market.

“Less than a year after we signed the first MoU, we are delighted to announce the first plants to be established at our smart Verbund site in Zhanjiang,” says Dr. Stephan Kothrade, president of functions Asia Pacific and president and chairman for Greater China at BASF. “The project is moving forward swiftly and customers in southern China will soon benefit from these innovative products to meet their immediate needs.”