Global chemicals company BASF has begun operating a new plant for manufacturing engineering plastic compounds in Korea, which company officials said will significantly drive up the firm’s polyamide and polybutylene terephthalate production in the country.

The new compounding plant located in Yesan, South Chungcheong Province, is able to produce up to 36,000 metric tons of BASF’s self-developed engineering plastic compounds Ultramid (polyamide) and Ultradur (polybutylene terephthalate) -- chemicals used in automotive parts and electrical wires.
 

As the plant more than doubles BASF’s local compounding capacities, the chemical firm is looking to meet the rising demand for high-quality engineering plastic compounds used by the automotive, electrical and electronics industries in East Asia.

“Asia is a strong growth driver of the engineering plastics market,” said Andy Postelthwaite, senior vice president of BASF’s Performance Materials Asia Pacific division, during a press event in Seoul on Tuesday to mark the plant's completion.

“Here, we see demand for engineering plastics coming from China, Japan and Korea, where the market is expected to grow at about 6 percent annually amid increased demand from the automotive and electrical sectors, both major business segments in Korea,” he said.

BASF is also planning to open a new engineering plastics product development laboratory in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province by mid-next year, aiming to develop new applications and innovative products more quickly in partnership with its customers.

“Success in engineering plastics is about creating new demand. Our goal is to fill the Yesan plant with newly-developed chemicals tailored to our customers’ needs,” Postelthwaite said, adding that such considerations “drove the firm to expand its production and R&D capacities here.”

Meanwhile, BASF Korea will continue to focus on developing and manufacturing more high performance specialty chemicals like Ultramid, while strengthening its existing commodity chemicals business, according to its managing director Shin Woo-sung.

By Sohn Ji-young  (jys@heraldcorp.com)