As the seventh Verbund site and the newest member of the global production network, Zhanjiang is integrated into BASF’s global Verbund architecture. In doing so, it continues a BASF history of crossborder expansion spanning more than 160 years—a history that began even before the Ludwigshafen headquarters site came into existence.
In April 1865, Friedrich Engelhorn founded the jointstock company “Badische Anilin & Sodafabrik” in Mannheim. Plans to acquire a suitable site for a production facility in the Baden residence city failed. Engelhorn therefore decided on a location on the opposite bank of the Rhine: Ludwigshafen, which at the time was still part of the Kingdom of Bavaria.
What initially appears to be a pragmatic stopgap decision proves, in hindsight, to be much more. With its new home in Ludwigshafen, an open approach to site selection begins—one that continues to shape BASF to this day. Even before the site becomes the heart of the company, a way of thinking beyond geographical—albeit initially local—boundaries is already evident.
Colors for the world – Early BASF trade routes and first international sites
From the very beginning, BASF was globally oriented. Even in its early years, BASF dyes were sold worldwide carried by traders, distribution channels, and a growing network of relationships. In 1873, BASF merged with the Stuttgart-based companies Knosp and Siegle, thereby establishing its own sales organizations at home and abroad. The first foreign sales office opened in Milan. In the same year, BASF also became a partner in a representative firm in New York.
Just twelve years after its founding, in 1877, BASF put its first production facilities outside Germany into operation, among them through the acquisition of a dye factory in Neuville-sur-Saône, France. In 1907, another site was added with Bromborough in the United Kingdom. These sites were early indicators of a development that would shape BASF over the long term: deep roots in Ludwigshafen combined with an international presence as an integral part of its identity.
Europe has always remained the home market. The principle of local production for local markets proved successful early on and recurs as a consistent pattern throughout the company’s history.
After the Second World War, the dissolution of I.G. Farben, and the reestablishment of BASF, the company began its return to the international stage. BASF’s renewed global expansion began in South America in the mid1950s. In 1955, the predecessor of BASF S/A launched its own production activities as part of a joint venture; one year later, a production facility followed in Argentina.
Step by step on the path to global expansion
The start of Styropor production in the 1950s revealed that long transport routes were becoming increasingly inefficient for bulky products. The answer was proximity—and thus the systematic establishment of production facilities wherever markets emerged. This marked BASF’s entry into North America, initially in 1958 through the joint venture Dow Badische Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas, followed later by BASF’s own sites.
In the 1960s, international expansion then gained significant momentum. In 1961, BASF acquired its first site in Asia through a stake in Thane, India. However, the regional focus in Asia initially lay on Japan.
At the same time, in 1964, BASF opened its first major Verbund site in Europe with Antwerp. With access to the sea, favorable raw material sources, and efficient logistics, the site quickly developed into BASF’s secondlargest location.
In the years that followed, further Verbund sites were added through acquisitions in Wyandotte, Michigan, and Geismar, Louisiana. While a dense network of production sites developed in the Americas and Europe, BASF’s entry into Africa came comparatively late. It was not until 1974 that BASF opened its first own production facility in South Africa.
With the acquisition of Wyandotte Chemicals Corporation, the plants in Wyandotte, Michigan, and Geismar, Louisiana, become part of the BASF Group
From the 1990s onward, the focus in Asia shifted toward China. The first facility there was established in 1992. A few years later, BASF also expanded its presence in Central America: in 1995, a new site was inaugurated in Altamira, Mexico.
With the beginning of the new millennium, another stage of development followed. In 2001, BASF brought a new Verbund site on stream in Kuantan, Malaysia. Four years later, the second Asian Verbund site followed in Nanjing, China.
This development also continued in Africa, with a facility in Nairobi being commissioned in 2014.
Growing through the Verbund, connected to the future
What began as individual site decisions evolved over the decades into a global production network—guided by the same principle that had already proven its value in 1865: remaining open to new locations, new connections, and new chapters, without forgetting one’s roots.
With Ludwigshafen as its center, BASF consistently continues to pursue its global orientation. The underlying idea remains unchanged: the sites are to be bundled into an interconnected production network. Today, this Verbund principle is implemented worldwide at the seven sites of Ludwigshafen, Antwerp, Freeport, Geismar, Kuantan, Nanjing, and now Zhanjiang. Together, they form a global network that intelligently links resources, know-how, and production facilities. The new site once again expands BASF’s global production network and fully embodies the proven Local-for-Local principle as well as BASF’s international history.
A global BASF network that repeatedly leads back to the Rhine—to its home in Ludwigshafen, where the Verbund principle originated. As the heart of BASF, the site remains the reference point of a system that continues to unfold from here into the world.
