German giant BASF starts large investment project in China

German chemical giant BASF on Saturday officially launched its largest-ever investment project, with financing estimated to reach up to US$10 billion upon completion, in south China's Guangdong province.

The BASF smart Verbund project, located in the city of Zhanjiang, will initially include plants to produce engineering plastics and TPU serving a range of key industries. They are expected to go into production by 2022.

The Verbund project is the first wholly foreign-funded project in China's heavy chemical industry.

"By utilizing the latest digital technologies and applying the highest safety standards, the new Verbund site will be a role model for sustainable production contributing to the development of a circular economy in China," said Dr Martin Brudermuller, chairman of the board of executive directors of BASF SE.

The whole Verbund site in Zhanjiang is planned to be completed by 2030, when it will cover 9 square km.

"Zhanjiang is a perfect location for BASF to further strengthen our footprint of local production in China," said Dr Stephan Kothrade, president of Asia Pacific functions and president and chairman of Greater China at BASF.

He said the smart Verbund site will form a solid foundation for a world-class industrial cluster in Zhanjiang and establish stronger business connections between the south China region and other Asian countries.

By 2022, the new engineering plastics compounding plant will supply an additional capacity of 60,000 tonnes per year in China, bringing BASF's total capacity for these products in the Asia Pacific to 290,000 tonnes per year.

The Verbund site in Zhanjiang will be BASF's third production site worldwide, following Ludwigshafen in Germany and Antwerp in Belgium. The new capacity will enable BASF to meet the growing demand of its customers, particularly in the automotive, electronics and new energy vehicles industries.

Zheng Renhao, secretary of the Zhanjiang municipal committee of the Communist Party of China, said the BASF project has shown a strong ability to form an industrial cluster by attracting a large number of upstream and downstream enterprises to Zhanjiang.