German chemical firm BASF is investing about EUR90m to build a new plant at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in China, for producing resins and electrocoat (e-coat) for use in automotive coatings.
Scheduled to commence production during the second half of 2015, the new Ultramid polymerisation plant will have a capacity of 100,000t per year.
The new plant would allow the firm to meet the growing demand for coatings solutions in the Asia Pacific automotive industry.
BASF Coatings Solutions Asia Pacific senior vice president Peter Fischer said that the investment in infrastructure and capacity will support growing business in the automotive market in Asia Pacific, particularly in China.
"With the new plant in place, we will respond to customers even quicker and further enhance our efficiency of logistics and supply of advanced coatings products," Fischer said.
The new plant will be built near the company's automotive coatings faicility which broke ground in January 2013, while the proximity is expected to boost synergies and efficiency.
In addition to producing resins, the new facility will also produce and deliver CathoGuard 800, which is an e-coat containing less than one percent solvents, while complying with latest standard of integrated coatings application processes.
E-coat plays a vital role in coating layer within automotive production, which protects cars' surfaces, edges and cavities from corrosion, while also acts as a base for application of subsequent paint layers.
