BASF plans to invest 1 billion euros ($1.27 billion) at its German headquarters to boost its polyurethane foam chemicals capacity, expecting long-term growth in demand from makers of cars and furniture.
The world's largest chemicals company said on Tuesday it would build a plant with an annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes of toluene di-isocyanate (TDI), a precursor chemical for producing the plastic foams that go into car seats, cushions and sports shoes.
The facility will replace an 80,000 tonnes-a-year plant in
BASF had said in May of last year it was planning to make the investment either at its
The move bucks a trend of the European chemical industry to limit output-boosting investments largely to sites in
The German company in November said it wanted to look beyond current market uncertainties, raising its 2020 group sales target a quarter to 115 billion euros, banking on population growth in emerging markets to drive demand.
Its third-quarter earnings beat forecasts but it warned at the time that growth was slowing as customers run down inventories.