Reshaping China's Supply Landscape! BASF's 500,000-Tonne PE Plant in Zhanjiang Starts Up

On January 8, 2026, BASF's Zhanjiang Verbund site reached yet another important milestone — a brand-new polyethylene (PE) plant was officially brought onstream and successfully completed the delivery of its first truckload of products. The first batch of “Bajufu”-brand polyethylene products departed the Zhanjiang site on dedicated transport vehicles and arrived at the customer's warehouse on schedule, marking that the plant has been fully put into commercial operation. This move not only fulfills BASF's “customer-centric” service commitment, but also, through localized capacity, effectively responds to the growing demand for polyethylene in the Chinese market, further strengthening its strategic position in the high-performance plastics sector.

As a key component of the Zhanjiang Verbund site, the newly commissioned polyethylene plant has a designed annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes, which will significantly enhance BASF's supply capability in the Chinese and Asian markets. Polyethylene is a lightweight, multi-functional thermoplastic polymer produced from ethylene as a raw material, and is widely used in packaging films, injection-molded products, automotive parts, home appliance components and many other fields, providing high-performance material solutions for downstream industries. It is worth noting that, certified by TÜV Rheinland of Germany in accordance with the ISO 14067:2018 standard, the carbon footprint of the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) products produced at the Zhanjiang site is at least 35% lower than the Chinese market average, fully reflecting BASF's leading practices in driving the green and low-carbon transition and sustainable development.

This new capacity arrives just as China's polyethylene industry enters a period of rapid expansion. According to monitoring data from the Maihuasu Research Institute, as of the end of 2025, China's total polyethylene capacity had reached 41.14 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 15.2%. With the addition of BASF's Zhanjiang plant, the national total capacity has been further raised to 41.64 million tonnes. Meanwhile, China's polyethylene output reached 33.12 million tonnes in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 18.7%, showing simultaneous gains in capacity release and production efficiency.

Against this backdrop, the startup of BASF's Zhanjiang polyethylene plant not only strengthens the local supply capability for high-end polyolefin products, but also sets a benchmark for sustainable development for the industry through a low-carbon technology pathway. In the future, BASF will continue to rely on the scale effects and innovation advantages of the Zhanjiang Verbund site, joining hands with value chain partners to jointly drive China's chemical new materials industry toward a new stage of high-quality development that is more efficient, greener and more resilient.