BASF CEO Kurt Bock said at its annual results press briefing that BASF will start TDI plant in Ludwigshafen in the coming months and plans to increase production in March and April but Bock is not fully specified Load production date.
Bock said, "We are trying to replace the spare reactors that we put into service last year in Ludwigshafen, and we are currently rolling out new equipment that will once again increase BASF's capacity."
'TDI in Ludwigshafen has always been a challenge, and despite all the tests, there are still some unexpected issues that have occurred and our team has done a great deal to that end.'
The plant construction with a capacity of 300,000 tons / year was postponed for one year and started in 2015.
To be frank, I do not know how much market share I have lost. Our profit margins are lower than those of our peers. We just started an MDI plant (Caojing, a joint venture with Huntsman) on time in Shanghai and started production immediately.
Looking ahead to 2018, he said: 'Demand is expected to continue and usage may decline, which will have an impact on prices.'
Bock said pricing reflects some of the manufacturing issues for competitors, with overall demand and supply tensions for individual reasons. Potential demand is good. In Louisiana, we are affected by certain external factors, such as low temperatures and we are outside Suppliers have some supply issues, so they have to lower capacity utilization in some of our plants. '
Regarding the supply of substandard TDI to the European market in the third quarter of 2017, Bock said: 'We are discussing with our clients how to solve these issues.' 'Supply issues have led to disruptions in many companies. Recticel specifically mentioned supply issues in its annual results Because of the decline in the profitability of its mattress segment.
At the same time, it is important to demonstrate that product conformity and dichlorobenzene have no effect on product performance and safety. "