BASF will cease operations of BDO production plant in Chiba, Japan

BASF Idemitsu Co., Ltd., a joint venture between BASF AG and Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., will close its 1,4-butanediol plant in Chiba, Japan. The joint venture agreement between BASF and Idemitsu will be terminated after this.

BASF's decision to close the BIC plant together with IKC is part of BASF's long-term global selection assessment of assets in its BDO value chain. There are 21 employees in the BIC plant, and each employee will be assigned to other jobs in IKC or BASF Group in Japan.

BASF has BDO and its derivatives production plants in Asia, North America and Europe. BASF will continue to provide BDO from its global plants to Japanese customers currently supplied by BIC.

"As one of the leading BDO and its derivatives business companies, we will continue to provide customers with high-quality product support around the world. The recent measures are part of our strategy to ensure that we further enhance our competition in the market. In order to increase long-term value for our customer’s business and BASF.” said Vasilios Galanos, Senior Vice President of BASF Intermediates Asia Pacific.

BIC President Masaru Saitoh explained: “Due to the shrinking scale of the Japanese BDO market and the recent investment in new coal-based BDO production bases in Asia, which has resulted in serious overcapacity, the closure of the Chiba plant has become inevitable.” BIC is working with all customers. Contact to support its smooth transition.

BDO and its derivatives are important chemical raw materials for the production of engineering plastics, polyurethane, solvents and elastic spandex fibers.