BASF Cuts More Jobs In Pigments Business

BASF is instituting a new round of cutbacks in its pigments business that includes the elimination of 650 positions, mainly in Europe, by 2017. The company will close its Paisley, Scotland, plant and restructure operations in Huningue, France. It will also consider options for its site in Maastricht, the Netherlands. At the same time, the company says it will invest close to $350 million to raise R&D, open a high-performance pigments plant in Nanjing, China, and expand a plant in Ulsan, South Korea. In 2010, BASF announced an initial round of restructuring that cut about 500 of the firm’s 2,900 pigment jobs, mainly in azo pigments and phthalocyanines.