BASF AG is building a compounding plant in China

BASF is to boost its compounding capability for PBT and polyamide in Asia in a two pronged investment programme to meet demand growth in engineering polymers of 8% a year in the region.

The group plans to build a new 45,000tpa plant at its existing Pudong site, near Shanghai, on which work starts in the first quarter of this year for completion by the end of 2006.

The second expansion is at BASF’s Pasir Gudang plant in Malaysia. Existing compounding capacity of 30,000tpa is to be raised to 45,000tpa by the middle of this year.

Overall investment in the projects is put in the double digit millions of Euros, the Ludwigshafen-based group said. PBT feedstock will be supplied from the new plant being constructed in Malaysia by a joint venture between BASF and Toray Industries of Japan.

On completion of the projects, BASF will have compounding capacity in Asia Pacific of more than 100,000tpa.