BASF to sell polystyrene business

BASF has signed an agreement to sell its Brazilian polystyrene business, including a production plant, to Companhia Brasileira de Estireno (CBE), a Unigel subsidiary.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

‘Given the current economic environment, we are taking steps to improve the profitability of our core styrenics business and strengthen our market position,’ said Joachim Streu, head of BASF’s styrenics business.

'This was also the reason for the recent closure of the 80,000-metric-tons-per-year polystyrene plant in Ludwigshafen and the sale of our 320,000-metric-tons-per-year styrene monomer site in Korea that we announced at the beginning of August.’

The polystyrene plant in São José dos Campos, Brazil, has a capacity of 190,000 metric tons of polystyrene per year. All employees from production, marketing and sales will transfer to CBE.

BASF said in a statement that it will continue to market acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), Styrolux and Styroflex (SBS) and other styrenics copolymers in Brazil.

The remaining South American market will be supplied with these products and with polystyrene from BASF sites in Antwerp, Belgium, and Altamira, Mexico.