BASF Opens New Polyurethanes Specialties Site in Shanghai

On June 13th, 2007 BASF celebrated the inauguration of its new
polyurethanes specialties site in Pudong, Shanghai. The site
operates under the name BASF Polyurethanes Specialties (China)
Co., Ltd. and comprises a polyurethane system house, a Technical
Research & Development Center and a production plant for
thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). The new TPU plant will supply
China and a large proportion of the Asian market.
    The new site will use cost advantages provided by the
regional production Verbund for polyurethanes: MDI
(diphenylmethane diisocyanate) and TDI (toluene diisocyanate)
- basic materials needed to produce specialties in Pudong - will
be supplied from Caojing, Shanghai. BASF and partners invested
US$1 billion in an integrated isocyanates complex in Caojing,
which started up in mid-2006. BASF opened its first Chinese
polyurethane system house in the 1990s in Nansha, South China,
and has in the meantime more than 30 system houses globally,
eight of which are in Asia Pacific.