German chemical company BASF plans to discontinue the production of polyamide at its European production site in Rudolstadt in the German state of Thuringia at the end of next year.
From then on, the production of the polyamide 6 material, widely used in the production of engineering plastics, will be consolidated at BASF’s two sites in Antwerp, Belgium, and Ludwigshafen, Germany.
'By focusing on the Verbund sites, we are safeguarding our competitiveness in the European polyamide 6 market,' said Dr Harald Lauke, head of BASF’s Performance Polymers division.
The restructuring measure will result in the loss of 58 jobs in Rudolstadt.
In Ludwigshafen, production will focus on higher-margin products and the resulting reduction of production will eliminate 19 positions. Affected employees will be offered other positions at the company in Ludwigshafen.
In total, the measures taken by the company in Europe will reduce its annual worldwide polymerisation capacity by 40,000 tons to 680,000 tons of polyamide 6 and 6.6 - a reduction of about six per cent.
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