BASF’s new plant to tap plastic need

Source: Xinhua | 2017-03-15

GERMAN chemicals giant BASF will build a plastic additives plant in Shanghai to tap the huge demand for plastics in China, the group said yesterday.

Construction of the 200-million-euro (US$213 million) new plant will be completed in 2019 for it to start operations the following year at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing. The plant is able to produce 42,000 tons of antioxidants annually. Antioxidants help protect plastics from aging when exposed to sunlight.

The plant is “a key project” to meet China’s enormous demand potential for plastics driven by the packaging, construction and automotive sectors, said Hermann Althoff, BASF’s senior vice president for performance chemicals unit in Asia.

BASF will continue to expand chemicals production in China, the group said recently.

BASF’s sales in China were 5.9 billion euros last year, with the country contributing nearly 10.2 percent to the group’s total.