In today’s announcement, the chemical firm outlined its plans, in which the unit will build on the large-scale product platforms as well as facility investments made last year.
The 2021 vitamin A plant expansion in Ludwigshafen, Germany is to now increase its vitamin A powder formulation capacities in line with the increased vitamin A acetate production capacity. Start-up is planned for mid-2023.
The plant at the Ludwigshafen site uses citral as the starting material for vitamins A and E as well as for carotenoids and a variety of aroma chemicals.
The recent expansion means the plant currently produces 3,800 metric tons of vitamin A acetate.
Vit A commitment
“Our commitment to the vitamin A market remains strong,” says Julia Raquet, Senior Vice President of the new global business unit Nutrition Ingredients.
“This investment is part of our new operating model, leveraging and further strengthening core product platforms of our nutrition ingredients business.
“It underlines our ambition to meet market demands for vitamin A in the long term and ensures reliable, high-quality supply to our customers.”
Meanwhile, BASF’s interest in aroma ingredients, is set to heighten with the firm committed to supporting, “growth opportunities and investments, address sustainability trends and leverage proximity to growth markets.”
BASF says it intends to base the Aroma Ingredients unit in Singapore to ensure proximity to major growth markets in Asia, while maintaining a commitment and connection to markets in the other regions.
Other changes will see BASF’s food and health performance ingredients portfolio undergoing a review owing to the businesses’, “limited portfolio synergies and integration into the BASF Verbund.”
Evaluate options
BASF says that strategic options will be evaluated to identify suitable opportunities for the business, based in Illertissen, Germany.
The evaluation will not impact BASF’s food and health performance ingredients production in Illertissen, supply abilities or commitments to customers, they add.
“We have a leading position as a strong partner in nutrition, flavour, fragrance and pharma markets,” says Anup Kothari, President, Nutrition & Health.
“We need to evolve by tailoring our business portfolio with growth investments into our core value chains, technology and R&D capabilities to meet sustainability needs and address the challenges of climate change.”
BASF recently released its preliminary figures for the second quarter of 2022 in which it stated that earnings for the Nutrition & Care segment, were slightly lower than the average analyst estimates.
Analyst sales estimates for the segment during Q2 2002, were €1,931m (Average), €2,057m (High), and €1,822m (low).