BASF India : to expand production capacity for Alkyl Polyglucosides at sites in Jinshan, China and Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

• Expansion to meet rising global demand for Alkyl Polyglucosides in home and personal care as well as agro market

Shanghai, China - February 9, 2018 - BASF will expand its global Alkyl Polyglucosides (APG) production capacity with two production improvement projects at sites in Jinshan, China and Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. With Cincinnati coming online in 2018 and Jinshan in 2019, BASF aims to better serve North American and Asian customers from regional supply points while reducing cross-regional volume flows and shortening lead times.

'The capacity expansion of the APG plant in Jinshan shows BASF's commitment to the growing care chemicals market in China and in Asia Pacific,' said Dr. Jianwen Mao, Vice President, Business Management Greater China, Home Care, I&I and Industrial Solutions, Care Chemicals Division, Asia Pacific. 'This investment will give us an opportunity to further add value to our customers' formulations with natural, renewable feedstock-based mild surfactants for various personal and home care applications.'

The investments in the U.S. and China will also ease the capacity concerns at the APG plant in Duesseldorf, Germany, in the future, enabling BASF to continue fulfilling strong European market demand.

APGs are surfactants used for mildness and foam improvement in personal care applications like facial wash, body wash and shampoo. They are also applied in home care for dish washing detergents, laundry and surface cleaning products, as well as for micro-emulsion formulations in agro applications. The home and personal care market is increasing its focus on ultra-mild ingredients and APGs play an important role in those formulations. Additional APG benefits include compatibility with various surfactants and other ingredients due to their non-ionic nature and manufacturing from 100 percent natural and renewable feedstocks.

About the Care Chemicals division at BASF

The BASF division Care Chemicals offers a broad range of ingredients for personal care, hygiene, home care, industrial & institutional cleaning, and technical applications. We are the global leading supplier for the cosmetics industry as well as the detergents and cleaning 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 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 online at www.care-chemicals.basf.com.

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 114,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of about €58 billion in 2016. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS). Further information at www.basf.com.