International. BASF said it is investigating the possibility of building a highly integrated chemical production site under the "Verbund" concept in southern China's Guangdong province. Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of BASF's Board of Directors, and Lin Shaochun, Executive Deputy Governor of Guangdong Province, signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in Berlin, in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
The Verbund site in Guangdong would be BASF's largest investment and would be operated under BASF's sole responsibility. China, with a global market share of about 40%, is the largest market for chemicals and dominates the growth of global chemical production. It is estimated that the investment will reach US$10 billion by the end of the project around 2030. The first plants could be completed by 2026 at the latest.
In the initial phase, the BASF project would include petrochemical plants. A steam cracker with a planned capacity of 1 million metric tons of ethylene per year would be the starting point of value chains at the new integrated site. In the following phases, plants will be built for more consumer-oriented products and solutions, to serve sectors such as transportation or consumer goods. Ultimately, the site would be BASF's third largest worldwide, following Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Antwerp, Belgium.
At the new site, BASF intends to implement a comprehensive smart manufacturing concept based on cutting-edge technologies. In the future, customers based in southern China will be supplied at this high-tech Verbund site.
