November 3, 2006

BASF to expand investment in China

Chemical giant BASF plans to expand its investments in China to around EUR 1 billion (US$1.27 billion) over the next four to five years as the targeted aim of achieving 10 percent of its total earnings from China is now within its reach, board member and executive director Martin Brudermuller said.

BASF aims to have one-fifth of its earnings coming from Asia by 2010, with half of that from China. In return, 10 percent of the company's overall investment would go to the country, Brudermuller announced in Beijing.

Half of that investment in China would be used to expand BASF's 50-50 venture with Sinopec in the eastern city of Nanjing.

By some estimates, BASF has already invested more than US$2 billion in China in recent years, mostly in the petrochemical venture with Sinopec.