(Yicai Global) Sept. 6 -- German chemical giant BASF’s first plant at its new Zhanjiang Verbund site in southern Guangdong province has started operating and will supply 60,000 metric tons of engineering plastics compounds per year to the China market.

The Zhanjiang plant will bring BASF’s total capacity of engineering plastics in the Asia Pacific region to 420,000 metric tons by 2023, thus meeting the growing demand of customers in automotive and electronics industries, the Ludwigshafen-based firm said in a press release today.

The new factory is entirely powered by green energy, and the whole Zhanjiang Verbund site will only use electricity from renewable sources by 2025, it added.

“The Zhanjiang Verbund site will be built with the latest digital technologies and to the highest safety standards. It will provide high-quality, low-carbon-footprint products and build up stronger business connections with customers in South China, underlining our commitment to the Chinese market,” said Markus Kamieth, member of the Board of Executive Directors.

BASF started construction of the first plants at the Zhanjiang Verbund site in 2020. Costing around EUR10 billion (USD9.9 billion), the complex is being built according to the firm’s Verbund concept – a one-source system that connects different plants, energy flows and infrastructure. The next plant to go into operation will produce thermoplastic polyurethanes and should come online next year, it added.

China is BASF’s second-biggest market. In the first half of this year, the company’s revenue from China jumped 11.5 percent to EUR6.2 billion (USD6.2 billion) on a year earlier, according to its latest financial report. The firm’s global revenue climbed 17.6 percent to EUR46.1 billion (USD45.9 billion).