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BASF in Greater China

BASF has been a committed partner to Greater China since 1885. With investments in Shanghai, Nanjing and Chongqing, BASF is a major foreign investor in China’s chemical industry, and maintains the BASF Innovation Campus Shanghai as a global research and development hub. BASF posted sales of approximately €7.3 billion in 2017 to customers in Greater China, and employed 8,982 people as of the end of the year. Greater China is currently BASF’s third largest market after Germany and the United States.

BASF currently operates 25 wholly-owned subsidiaries, seven major joint ventures, and maintains 24 sales offices in Greater China. BASF’s business in Greater China includes intermediates, monomers, petrochemicals, dispersions & resins, care chemicals, nutrition & health, performance chemicals, catalysts, construction chemicals, coatings, performance materials and agricultural solutions. These chemical products are used in almost all areas of daily life such as in houses, cars, food, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, textile, sportswear, household goods, and electronic equipment. BASF has invested more than €6 billion in Greater China (more than €8 billion with partners) to build a locally competitive production, marketing, sales, technical service and innovation network.

  • Located in Gaoqiao, Shanghai
  • Established in 1994, with wholly-owned site starting operation in 2000
  • More than 3,000 employees
  • BASF Greater China headquarters since 2004
  • An integrated site combining global, regional and local research and development, business management and production
  • Innovation Campus Shanghai established in 2012
  • Headquarters of BASF’s global technology platform Advanced Materials & Systems Research since 2016
  • Eight production plants and one waste water treatment plant
  • 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, detergents, metal complex dyes, leather auxiliaries and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)

  • Located in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing, Shanghai
  • First PolyTHF® ; production in 2004
  • Total investment of nearly CNY 20 billion (around €2.7 billion) to date
  • One BASF wholly-owned company and three joint ventures, operating the following major production plants:
    • BASF Chemicals Co. Ltd. (wholly-owned)
    • BASF Shanghai Coatings Co. Ltd. (a joint venture between BASF Group and Shanghai Huayi Fine Chemical Co. Ltd.)
    • Shanghai BASF Polyurethane Company Limited (a joint venture with two Chinese partners)
    • Shanghai Lianheng Isocyanate Co. Ltd. (a joint venture with several partners)
  • Products: Polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF), TDI (toluene diisocyanate), MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate), polyisocyanate (Basonat®), precious metals-based salts and solutions, automotive coatings, resin and electrocoat, polyamide polymerization and process catalysts

  • Located in the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park
  • Established in 2000 with commercial production since 2005; inaugurated its second phase in 2012
  • Total investment of $5.2 billion to date
  • 1,882 employees as of December 31, 2017
  • A 50-50 joint venture between BASF and Sinopec, an integrated Verbund site
  • 32 production plants
  • 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, polyisobutene, etc.
  • Annual capacity of three million metric tons of high quality chemicals and polymers

  • Located at Changshou Economic & Technological Development Area, Chongqing
  • Approved by the National Development and Reform Commission of China in 2011
  • Total investment of approximately ¥8 billion (€860 million)
  • BASF wholly-owned site
  • First MDI production in 2015
  • Product: MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate)
  • Annual capacity of 400,000 metric tons