BASF in Greater China
At a glance
BASF has been a committed partner to Greater China since 1885. With larger production sites in Shanghai, Nanjing and Chongqing, BASF is a major foreign investor in the country’s chemical industry, and operates the Innovation Campus Shanghai, a global and regional research and development hub. BASF posted sales of approximately €121 billion in 2021 to customers in Greater China and employed 11,070 people as of the end of the year. Greater China is currently BASF’s second largest market after the United States.
BASF major sites in Greater China
An integrated site with global, regional and local activities for research and development, production, sales and marketing, and functional units
- Location: Gaoqiao, Pudong, Shanghai
- Key milestones:
o Established in 1994
o Became a wholly-owned BASF entity in 2000
o Home to the BASF Greater China headquarters (legal entity since 2004; operations since 2012)
o Innovation Campus Shanghai established in 2012
o Operating nine production plants and a wastewater treatment plant by end of 2021
Products: Advanced materials including Ultramid® (polyamide, PA), Ultradur® (polybutylene terephthalate, PBT), polyurethane systems, Elastollan® thermoplastics polyurethane elastomers (TPU) and Cellasto® (microcellular polyurethane), acrylic dispersions & copolymers colorants, detergent, metal complex dyes, leather auxiliaries, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), 3D printing materials and mobile emissions catalysts.
An integrated Verbund site jointly run by BASF and Sinopec (shareholding ratio: 50-50)
- Location: Nanjing Jiangbei New Materials High-Tech Park
- Key milestones:
o Established in 2000
o Commercial production since 2005
o Inauguration of its second phase in 2012
o Operating 33 production plants by end of 2021
Products: low density polyethylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate, ethylene glycol, polystyrene, acrylic acid and acrylic esters, non-ionic surfactants, superabsorbent polymers, n-butanol, iso-butanol, 2-propyl-heptanol, butadiene, polyisobutylene, etc.
- 2021 key facts and figures:
o Total investment of $5.5 billion
o Over 2,000 employees
o Sales in 2021: Around €3.6 billion
A major production site with one wholly-owned company and three joint ventures
- Location: Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing, Shanghai
- Key milestones:
o Established in 2002
o First PolyTHF® production in 2005
o Operating 16 production plants as of the end of 2021
- Major companies:
o BASF Chemicals Co. Ltd. (wholly-owned)
o BASF Shanghai Coatings Co. Ltd. (joint venture with Shanghai Huayi Fine Chemical Co., Ltd)
o Shanghai Lianheng Isocyanate Co. Ltd. and Shanghai BASF Polyurethane Company Limited (two joint ventures with several partners)
- Products: Polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF®), TDI (toluene diisocyanate), MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate), polyisocyanate (Basonat®), precious metals-based salts and solutions, automotive coatings, resins and electrocoat, polyamide polymerization and process catalysts and antioxidants
A BASF wholly-owned production site for multiple products, including water-treatment monomers amine products and coating additives
- Location: Nanjing Jiangbei New Materials High-tech Park
- Key milestones:
o Became BASF’s wholly-owned company in 2009, and renamed as BASF Specialty Chemicals (Nanjing) Co. Ltd. in 2011
o Operating nine plants as of the end of 2021
- Products: ACM, AGEFLEX® FA1Q80MC, Anionic Flocculant, Cationic Flocculant, t-BA (tert-Butylamine), DMAPA (3-(dimethylamino)Propylamine), PEA (Polyetheramine), N-Octylamine A/P, 1,2-Propylenediamine, additives for painting, ink, coating and adhesive
BASF wholly-owned production site for MDI
- Location: Changshou Economic & Technological Development Area, Chongqing
- Key milestones:
o First MDI production in 2015
o Completion of new steam methane reformer in 2018
- Product: MDI with annual capacity of 400,000 metric tons
Built and operated under the sole responsibility of BASF, upon completion, the site will be BASF’s largest investment and ultimately BASF’s third-largest site worldwide (following Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Antwerp, Belgium)
- Location: Zhanjiang, Guangdong province
- Key milestones:
o MoU signed in Berlin on July 9, 2018
o Commencement of the Verbund site project in Zhanjiang, Guangdong on November 23, 2019
o Started piling of the first plants on May 30, 2020, scheduled to be operational respectively by 2022 and by 2023
o The whole Verbund site is planned to be completed by 2030
- Investment: around €8 - €10 billion upon completion
- Plants and products:
o The BASF Zhanjiang Verbund site will be built in phases. The first plant will be producing Engineering Plastics, followed by a TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) plant, both of which are currently under construction.
o The next phase, consisting of 1 million ton of ethylene cracker and other downstream products along the value chain, including intermediate chemicals, care chemicals, nutrition and health.
1 Sales of BASF Group companies in the scope of consolidation. Sales of joint ventures and associated companies with BASF’s investment of between 20% and 50% in general which are consolidated at equity (e.g.BASF-YPC Company Limited) are not included.
