BASF Updates Asia Strategy

At a media briefing in Hong Kong, senior managers of BASF outlined the company’s strategy in Asia from now to the year 2020. For starters, the firm plans to invest $13 billion on capital projects in the region during the period. That spending level would be a notable increase from the $9 billion the company invested in Asia between 2003 and 2012. By 2020, BASF hopes to produce in Asia about 75% of the chemicals and materials it sells there. The company also envisages an increase in its Asian workforce from 16,400 today to about 25,000 in 2020. Competition from international and local chemical companies has increased in recent years, noted Martin Brudermüller, the Hong Kong-based vice chairman of the board. Nevertheless, BASF said it intends to grow annually by 2% more than the industry average. The company will achieve this goal by setting up task forces to explore the markets of Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, and Myanmar and by setting up marketing teams targeting specific segments such as the automotive, construction, packaging, and pharmaceutical industries.