Frank Fasdernes, Vice President, Plastic Additives, BASF FZE opens up about the opportunities that the Middle Eastern countries unravel for the chemical industry.
By Debarati Das
Opportunities for the chemical industry in the Middle East.
BASF customers in the Middle East include the region’s main plastics and polymer producers. Traditionally, these companies produced basic chemicals and polymers primarily to leverage their regional feedstock advantage in oil and gas. More recently, we have seen a drive more downstream into performance and speciality segments to add more value and create jobs for the fast-growing young population of the countries in the region. Over time, this means that we will be competing with our customers on some products, but overall, as a solution provider to the entire value chain, for BASF this has opened new opportunities.
With respect to the development of the plastic additives market, we see the strongest market growth in the Middle East, as well as in Asia, especially in China and India.
BASF is the world leader in Customer Specific Blends (CSBs), which represent pre-packaged blends of additives tailored to meet the individual needs of customers, especially in the Middle East. Users in world-scale plants such as those in this region benefit particularly from CSBs, which are characterised by simpler and more accurate dosing and better dispersibility. In 2012, BASF inaugurated its latest state of the art production facilities in Bahrain, mainly producing CSBs based on extruded Irganox® antioxidants for use in polyethylene and polypropylene, to meet the growing and specific needs of the Middle East. The plant in Bahrain complements our already long-term running production in Saudi Arabia, where we have partnered with Astra Polymers.
Trends in the chemical industry in the Middle East.
Pressured by lower oil prices, regional chemical producers have responded with cost-driven restructuring programs, more emphasis on operational excellence and, even more important, greater integration with refining activities. In addition to this, the drive for sustainability is getting more in the focus.
BASF Plastic Additives is supporting its customers in becoming more sustainable by providing tailor-made solutions. For example, see the pressure for the polymer producers to replace TNPP (Tris Nonylphenyl Phosphite) in their products by more sustainable and future-oriented solutions, to stay competitive in the international export markets. With our excellent additives knowledge and extensive product offering, BASF is able to support our customers in achieving this.
Challenges faced by the chemical industry in Middle East.
The biggest challenge chemical producers from the region are facing is currently coming from US shale. Especially the new established American polymer capacities will target export markets with bigger volumes. When oil prices started to recover late 2016, gains were immediately damped by a steady rise of US shale production. For the regional chemical industry, this means that the original competitive advantage of cheap access to feedstock is no longer valid. The industry has to reinvent itself to stay competitive in the global polymer market.
Energy efficient and sustainable solutions in the Middle East.
BASF is the market leader in antioxidants, UV stabilisers and pigments. We have the unique know-how and a deep understanding of the market and are committed worldwide. We very much consider ourselves a sustainability enabler: our innovative additives allow us to improve the processing properties of plastics which lead to energy and waste reduction, increase the lifetime of products, create functional surfaces, and create the space for our customers for new applications. These are all reasons why our customers in the Middle East continue to choose BASF as their partner. We want to lead by example on sustainability. One of the ways in which we do so is by shipping the production waste of BASF Plastics Additives to proper recycling or incineration units outside the Middle East.
BASF activities in the Middle East.
BASF has been active in the Middle East for more than a century, supplying and customising its solutions for almost every industry, mainly Construction, Chemicals & Plastics, Energy & Resources, Water, Consumer goods, Agriculture, Feed and Food industry. BASF in Dubai serves as the sub-regional Head Office and Service Platform for the Middle East. With over 950 employees in the Middle East, BASF works cohesively to meet the local market demands towards its corporate purpose to “create chemistry for a sustainable future”.
The BASF Plastic Additives Middle East (BASF PAME) in Bahrain is our latest added production facility for antioxidant blends in the region, producing customer specific blends (CBS).
The plastic additives market offers significant opportunity for innovation and BASF remain committed to innovation for the plastics industry. Major drivers for innovation include enhanced performance requirements for plastics, increasing regulatory requirements with regards to environmental and consumer safety, especially food contact compliance, and the need of our customers for cost efficient operations. BASF as the market leader in plastic additives is well positioned to benefit from those market trends with its wide range of antioxidants, light stabilisers, and other additives for plastic applications. Based on our strong application know-how we support innovation at our customers in all regions through process specific support from our technical centres in Switzerland, Italy, U.S., and China. With our R&D activities, we are addressing the needs of our customers in their end use markets. Two of the latest product innovations BASF launched at the K show in October 2016 are Tinuvin® XT 55 for very long-lasting artificial turfs, and Tinuvin® 880, a new generation of low molecular weight methylated HALS for automotive interior parts.
© Chemical Today Magazine
Read More: Providing platform for sustainable chemistry
No comments:
Post a Comment