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(BASF) -- BASF will significantly
expand its presence in the Middle East region by building a state-of-the-art
plant for customer specific antioxidant blends (CSB) in Bahrain. CSBs are key
additives for the production of polymers for the plastics industry, especially
for the Middle East region. Construction of the new facility will start in
September 2011. It will become one of the world’s largest CSB plants with an
annual capacity of about 16.000 metric tons. The new plant will be operational
already by end of 2012.
This is a major investment of BASF in
the plastic additives business following its acquisition of Ciba in 2009 and
manifests BASF’s strong commitment to this industry. Hans W. Reiners, President
of BASF’s Performance Chemicals division, explained this strategic move: “We are
very happy to establish a state-of-the-art CSB production site close to our
customers in this fast growing region. This is backed by our powerful production
network of antioxidants in Asia, Europe and the Americas making us worldwide one
of the leading partners to the plastic processing industry with a product
portfolio unmatched in terms of broadness and quality. BASF is very much
committed to further strengthen its plastic additives business ranging from
antioxidants and lightstabilizers to pigments.”
This new
plant will come in addition to the existing manufacturing agreement for CSBs
with Astra Polymer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, making BASF the largest CSB
supplier in this region. This facility will be well positioned to serve the fast
growing polymer market in the Middle East with special focus on key customers in
the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), one of the fastest growing
regions for the production of polyolefin resins worldwide.
mrcplast.com |
