Recently, it was reported that BASF, Germany’s largest chemical company, announced that it would permanently move its operations to China. The company cited rising energy costs in Europe and China’s vast market as reasons.
BASF is one of the “Big Three” in the German chemical manufacturing industry. Its predecessor was the “Baden Aniline Alkali Plant” founded by Engelhorn in Mannheim, a small town in southwestern Germany in 1865. It is now a comprehensive chemical manufacturing enterprise with chemicals as its core business.
The company’s business consists of five parts: plastic products, performance chemicals, functional chemicals, agricultural chemicals, and oil and gas products. It was named “The Most Respectable Chemical Manufacturing Company” by Fortune Magazine in the United States.
The relationship between BASF and China dates back to 1885. It is said that a man named Theodore Sprueser traveled thousands of miles to convince the Chinese people of the advantages of BASF dyes, thus tying up the relationship between BASF and China.
In 1992, BASF established its first factory in Nanjing, China. So far, BASF has 28 major wholly-owned subsidiaries, 7 major joint ventures, and 24 in Shanghai, Nanjing, Chongqing, and Zhanjiang. Sales Office, China has become BASF’s second largest market in the world.
BASF’s main production bases in Greater China:
Shanghai Pudong Science and Technology Innovation Park
Shanghai Pudong Science and Technology Innovation Park is BASF’s largest R&D base in the Asia-Pacific region and the global headquarters of BASF’s advanced materials and systems research technology platform. It was completed in November 2012 and the second phase of expansion was completed in November 2015. In 2021, BASF officially launched the third phase of Shanghai Innovation Park construction. It is a comprehensive complex integrating global, Asia-Pacific and local R&D, production, marketing and sales and functional departments. The base has a total of nine production units and one wastewater treatment unit as of the end of 2021.
Products: New materials include Ultramid® (polyamide, PA), Ultradur® (polybutylene terephthalate, PBT), polyurethane composites, Elastollan® thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), Cellasto® microcellular polyurethane Elastomers, acrylic dispersions and polymer colorants, detergents, metal complex dyes, leather auxiliaries, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), 3D printing materials, vehicle emission catalysts, etc.
Shanghai Caojing Base
BASF Shanghai Caojing Base was built in 2002 and is one of the three major production bases of German BASF in China. BASF has one wholly-owned company (BASF Chemical Co., Ltd.) in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Zone, and has jointly built three more with Huntsman, Shanghai Huayi (Group) Company, Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Chemical Co., Ltd., and Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Branch. The joint venture (BASF Shanghai Coatings Co., Ltd., Shanghai Lianheng Isocyanate Co., Ltd. and Shanghai BASF Polyurethane Co., Ltd.) produces diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI).
Also at this base, BASF also independently operates a polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF) unit for the production of elastic fibers, an important raw material, and a polyisocyanate (Basonat) unit for the paint and furniture paint industries. The other unit mainly produces industrial precious metal refining, salts and solutions, mainly supporting BASF’s vehicle emission catalyst production facility in Shanghai. As of the end of 2021, a total of 16 production units are in operation
Products: Polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF®), toluene diisocyanate (TDI), diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), polyisocyanate (Basonat®), precious metal salts and solutions, automotive coatings, resins and electrocoats, Polyamide polymers, process catalysts, antioxidants, etc.
Chongqing Base
BASF’s wholly-owned diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) production base.
Product: diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), with an annual output of 400,000 tons.
Nanjing Integrated Base (Verbund)
The integrated production base invested and built by BASF Group and Sinopec in a 50:50 share ratio, with sales in 2021: approximately 3.6 billion euros, and a total of 33 production units in operation by the end of 2021. On April 28, 2022, Sinopec and BASF laid the foundation stone for the integrated production base expansion project in Nanjing. The expansion and new equipment will be put into operation by the end of 2023.
Products: Low density polyethylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate, ethylene glycol, polystyrene, acrylic acid and acrylate esters, nonionic surfactants, superabsorbent polymers, n-butanol, isobutanol, 2- Propyl-heptanol, butadiene, polyisobutylene, etc.
Nanjing Base
BASF’s wholly-owned production base produces products including water treatment monomers, amine products and coating additives. As of the end of 2021, a total of nine production units are in operation.
Products: acrylamide, quaternary ammonium salt compounds, anionic flocculants, cationic flocculants, tert-butylamine, N, N-dimethyl-1, 3-propylenediamine, polyetheramine, n-octylamine, 1, 2 – Propylenediamine, a new additive for paints, inks, coatings, and adhesives.
Zhanjiang integrated base (under construction)
BASF’s Zhanjiang Integrated Base is located on Donghai Island in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province. The project planning area is approximately 9 square kilometers and the total investment is expected to reach US$10 billion. The Zhanjiang integrated base is BASF’s largest��’s overseas investment project will be independently constructed and operated by BASF.
After completion, the base will become BASF’s third largest integrated production base in the world, after Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Antwerp, Belgium. The first batch of units of the project will produce engineering plastics and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), providing materials for automobiles, electronic products, new energy vehicles and other fields. The first unit of the Zhanjiang integrated base was officially put into production on September 6, 2022. The entire integrated base is expected to be completed in 2030.
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