Hong Kong, China – October 8, 2015

BASF will expand its emollients and waxes production capacity with a new plant at its site in Jinshan, Shanghai. The investment, complementing the current production of wax esters, emulsifiers and primary surfactants in Jinshan, will further enhance BASF’s local production and better serve the growing personal care market in Asia Pacific.

Serving strong demand for sophisticated sensory

The Asian beauty and personal care industry has become increasingly influential in the worldwide marketplace. To serve sophisticated end consumer demands better, brand owners today are actively finding ways to innovate products with high performance, unique aesthetics, and outstanding texture and skin feel. As the leading supplier to the personal care industry, BASF endeavors to mobilize resources to serve global, regional and local brands better and quicker.

“Emollients and waxes are important in governing the tactile feeling and skin sensation of end products. China is one of the biggest personal care markets. Strengthening our production facility in China allows us to serve customers in the region quicker with greater flexibility. Combined with our technical services, market insights and knowledge, a reliable supply of high quality emollients and waxes will complement our strengths in serving Asian customers better,” said Dr. Thomas Groesser, Senior Vice President of Care Chemicals Asia Pacific, BASF. The additional facility is anticipated to go on stream in the first quarter of 2017. With easy access to BASF Innovation Campus Asia Pacific (Shanghai), which is BASF’s largest research site in Asia Pacific, the additional facility will enable close collaboration in the development of innovative products meeting specific Asian personal care needs.

Jinshan production site is RSPO certified using the Mass Balance model

Today, the Jinshan production site manufactures a variety of personal care raw materials including wax esters, emulsifiers and primary surfactants. The major applications of emollients and waxes are for skin care, baby and child care, deodorants, and oral care. Several products produced in the Jinshan plant are derived from natural feedstock including palm (kernel) oil. The Jinshan site is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) supply chain certification system, using the Mass Balance (MB) model to assure the use of RSPO certified sustainable palm (kernel) oil products.

“Many customers in the personal care market are committed to implementing global sustainability requirements. For example, they are devoted to the use of sustainable raw materials to manufacture products. We believe it is a shared responsibility for every stakeholder in the market to work collaboratively and drive positive economic development while fostering sustainable palm and palm kernel oil production and usage. Producing RSPO-certified products is one of our key steps in fulfilling the needs of a sustainable business which is an integral part of BASF’s strategy,” said Thomas Groesser.

About BASF’s Care Chemicals Division

The BASF division Care Chemicals Offers a broad range of ingredients for hygiene, personal care, home care, industrial and institutional cleaning, and technical applications. We are the leading global supplier for the cosmetics industry as well as the detergents and cleaners industry and support our customers with innovative and sustainable products, solutions and concepts. The division’s high-performance product portfolio includes surfactants, emulsifiers, polymers, emollients, chelating agents, cosmetic active ingredients, pigments and UV filters. Superabsorbent polymers developed for the full spectrum of hygiene applications complete the range. We have production and development sites in all regions and are expanding our presence in emerging markets. Further information is available on the Internet at www.care-chemicals.basf.com

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry – and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of over 74 billion Euro in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.