BASF has emerged as one of the early winners from the fall-out between Washington and Beijing caused by the US-China trade war, it confirmed last month. In July 2018, the German chemical company – the largest chemical producer in the world – announced that it was set to invest $10bn in a new manufacturing base in China’s Guangdong province, in what will be the company’s largest ever greenfield investment; and while a spokesperson insisted to the FT’s fDi that all its investment decisions were based on market logic, they also conceded that its achievement in securing full ownership of the project signalled Beijing’s intentions to open up its domestic market to foreign investment.
The new manufacturing base – BASF’s 25th in the country – will be located in Zhanjian and will include a steam cracker with an annual ethylene capacity of one million metric tonnes.
China is the world’s largest chemical market with a 30% share of the global market, a figure that BASF expects will grow to 50% by 2030.
BASF winning out in US-China trade war
Source: fdiintelligence