BASF cuts Feluy, Belgium MA capacity by 15%

"By reducing the capacity of maleic anhydride we will be able to improve efficiencies in our operations," said Peter Hettinger, group vice president, regional business unit Europe - diols and polyalcohols.

A spokeswoman for BASF told CNI that employment levels at Feluy had not been affected by the capacity cutback. She was unable to quantify, however, the cost of reducing capacity or the expected efficiency savings.

BASF is the main producer of MA in Europe. MA is mainly used for the production of unsaturated polyesters and for butanediol (BDO) derivatives. The product is also used for other applications like surfactants, lubricants, and agrochemicals.

The Feluy site, which BASF acquired almost three years ago from Italy's Sisas for DM295m ($127m/Euro151m), produces MA, BDO, BDO derivatives, phthalic anhydride (PA) and plasticisers.

The cutback at Feluy comes almost 18 months after BASF closed its plasticisers and PA production plants in Tarragona, Spain due to market overcapacity and intense price competition.

BASF said then that it intended to concentrate production at its worldscale facilities in Ludwigshafen, Germany and Feluy. It added that the opening up of European markets meant that worldscale production plants were needed to ensure competitiveness.