Bangkok--30 Sep--BASF (Thai)
- Increased production capacity to meet rising market demand in transportation and footwear segments
- System house to become ASEAN hub for production of polyurethanes
Bangpoo, Thailand – September 30, 2016 – BASF will expand its polyurethanes system house in Bangpoo, Thailand, as part of a move to convert the site into an ASEAN hub for the production of polyurethane systems.
With the expansion, BASF is gearing up its capacity for the production of polyurethanes to meet growing market demands in ASEAN – particularly in the transportation and footwear segments. With a total production area of 2,700 m2, the redesigned system house will include additional mixing vessels, reactors and storage tanks.
"ASEAN is a growing market. Thailand has the largest automotive industry in Southeast Asia as of 2015, and we expect it will continue to grow with differentiated products and emerging applications. Meanwhile, Vietnam is already one of the world's largest footwear exporters, and its industry is expected to grow as more manufacturers relocate their manufacturing base there," said Andy Postlethwaite, Senior Vice President, Performance Materials Asia Pacific, BASF.
According to the World Footwear 2016 report, worldwide production of footwear last year was 23 billion pairs of shoes, of which about 11% were manufactured in the ASEAN region.
In 2015 approximately 3.8 million cars were produced in ASEAN , close to half of which were produced in Thailand. The ASEAN car market by production volume is expected to grow by about 30% until 2022.
"Investing in the expansion of our system house will allow us to bring innovative products and solutions to the market faster. We will develop new applications for our customers, backed by our design, engineering, and technical competences," Postlethwaite continued.