BASF Zhanjiang 500000-ton polyethylene plant put into production: South China Petrochemical pattern reconstruction and industrial chain opportunity analysis.

Project core progress and strategic positioning

at 22: 58 on December 21, BASF (Guangdong) 500000-ton/year polyethylene plant successfully produced qualified products and achieved a successful start-up. The device is located in the Donghaidao Petrochemical Industrial Park in Zhanjiang, Guangdong. It only took about 18 months from the start of construction in June 2023 to the start of production, and the construction efficiency is remarkable. The project adopts BASF's global unified construction management standard, and all English documents are compiled to meet the requirements of international patent dealers and domestic standards simultaneously. This international quality control system provides institutional guarantee for the long-term stable operation of the device.

BASF Zhanjiang integrated base was started in July 2018 and officially started in November 2019, with a total investment of about 10 billion euro. It is the largest single investment project in BASF's history and is independently constructed and operated by BASF. When fully completed, the base will become BASF's third largest production base in the world, after Ludwigshafang in Germany and Antwerp in Belgium. This strategic layout highlights the core position of the Chinese market in the global territory of multinational chemical giants, and also reflects the confidence of international capital in the long-term growth potential of China's petrochemical industry.

Industry Chain Allocation and Market Impact Assessment

integrated industrial chain architecture the core of the base is a steam cracking unit with an annual output of 1 million tons of ethylene, which uses naphtha and n-butane as raw materials to produce basic chemicals such as ethylene, propylene, benzene and toluene. The downstream supporting devices include: 66/83/200000 tons/year ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol/refined ethylene oxide, 215000 tons/year non-ionic surfactant, 500000 tons/year polyethylene, 2 × 190000 tons/year acrylic acid, 375000 tons/year butyl acrylate, 100000 tons/year isooctyl acrylate, 500000 tons/year butyl octanol, 80000 tons/year neopentyl glycol, 110000 tons/year formaldehyde, 40000 tons/year citral, etc, covering automotive, construction, electronics, food packaging, aerospace and other terminal industries.

Reshaping the regional supply pattern: 500000 tons of polyethylene production capacity will significantly improve the supply tension in South China, reduce dependence on long-distance logistics in East and North China, and reconstruct the regional price system. The 1 million-ton ethylene cracking plant and 380000-ton acrylic acid and ester production capacity will provide stable and localized raw materials for downstream enterprises such as coatings, adhesives and absorbent resins in South China, shorten supply chain response time and reduce logistics costs.

Industry chain synergy opportunity: It is suggested to pay attention to three dimensions for traders and supply chain practitioners: first, to continuously track the production schedule of follow-up devices and lay out the regional procurement and distribution network of polyethylene, acrylate, surfactant and other products in advance; The second is to evaluate the docking mode between BASF's global supply chain system and the Chinese market and explore business opportunities such as trade agency, warehousing logistics and technical services. The third is to pay attention to the procurement policy and cooperation mechanism under the independent operation mode of the base, grasp the window period for establishing long-term cooperative relations with international chemical giants. With the full production of the base, the petrochemical industry in South China will accelerate its upgrading to high-end and refinement, creating new growth space for participants in the whole industry chain.