Oct 28 2003
BASF will cease production of many of their polystyrene resin grades from their Ludwigshafen plant as of July 1, 2004. This will effectively reduce their sales volume from the compounds market by 100,000 metric tons.
They also intend to mothball their Styrolux (a styrene/butadiene/styrene block copolymer) plant in Ludwigshafen in the last quarter of 2003. The European production short fall will be supplied by BASF’s Styrolux plant in Antwerp, while the American production shortfall will be taken over by a new plant in Mexico that is due to come on stream at the end of 2003.
Consequently BASF will no longer manufacture polystyrene compounds or niche products including ready-coloured resins and those with customized properties. They will offer their customers technical assistance in switching to alternative products.
Compounded BASF polystyrene will still be available, but only through licenced suppliers.
BASF is in the process of selling off its business that deals with polystyrene containing special additives.
For more information on polystyrene, click here.