BASF to shut Tarragona, Spain plasticiser, PA plants

23 July 2002 11:22  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--BASF said Tuesday it is closing its plasticisers and phthalic anhydride (PA) production plants in Tarragona, Spain due to market over-capacity and intense price competition.

Production from the 40 000 tonne/year plasticiser facility will cease on 31 August. PA output of around 17 000 tonne/year will continue until 31 December to ensure all existing contracts are fulfilled.

BASF intends to concentrate production at its worldscale facilities in Ludwigshafen, Germany and Feluy, Belgium. Plasticiser capacity at Ludwigshafen is around 260 000 tonne/year and PA capacity is 110 000 tonne/year. At Feluy, BASF has plasticiser capacity of 95 000 tonne/year and PA capacity of 92 000 tonne/year.

BASF said the opening up of European markets meant that worldscale production plants are needed to ensure competitiveness.

All 40 employees at the Tarragona plants will be affected by the closures. A BASF spokeswoman told CNI that most would be offered alternative jobs within BASF or early retirement.

BASF Espanola management board member Ramon Gil-de-Luigi said: "We knew that our local production of plasticisers and PA lacked the necessary economic scale and had an unfavourable cost position compared with other European sites."

BASF closed an initial plasticiser intermediates plant in Tarragona last June but over-capacity was exacerbated after the acquisition of additional plasticiser and PA facilities at Feluy last July when it bought Sisas.

Herbert Fietzek, BASF’s head of European plasticisers business in Europe, said: "Our aim is to extend our leading position in the European plasticisers market and to strengthen the business on a long term basis."

ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009

Author: Joanna Kesteven
+44 208 652 3214

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