Page 63 - Plastics News December 2019

CompANy NEws

BASF’s China Verbund gets Polymer trader takes Total

underway Corbion PLA to Turkey

ASF has launched its smart Verbund project in Zhanjiang, otal Corbion PLA has appointed polymer trading
BGuangdong province, China, and commenced building Tcompany Kumru Kimya as a non-exclusive agent in
its first plants. It marks a milestone of the company’s Turkey for its Luminy PLA portfolio. Kumru Kimya is a
US$10 billion investment project announced in July 2018. biopolymer trading partner in the Turkish market and
The first plants will produce engineering plastics and general manager Mert Kumru believes that the portfolio
thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to serve the increasing will be an important asset in an era of the circular
economy. This collaboration allows the Turkish market
to gain better access to the benefits of PLA bioplastics.
Kumru Kimya is a biopolymer trading partner in the
Turkish market, and for almost a decade has been
servicing companies interested in sustainable polymer
solutions. General Manager Mert Kumru said: “Total
Corbion PLA’s product portfolio will be an important
asset in our overall product offering, especially during
this era in which the circular economy becomes the
ultimate path forward in the plastic industry. The
quality and versatility of the Luminy PLA portfolio will
help us to unlock various new products and applications
where biobased and/or compostable solutions are
required.” “The quality and versatility of the Luminy
PLA portfolio will help us to unlock various new products
needs of various growth industries in the southern China and applications where bio-based and/or compostable
market and throughout Asia.“We are pleased to see our solutions are required,” said Kumru. “We are delighted
mega-investment project in China is progressing,” said Dr that Kumru Kimya will be our representative in Turkey,”
Martin Brudermüller, chairman of the board of executive added Hugo Vuurens, senior business director for
directors at BASF. “We are determined to support our
customers in southern China drive growth with innovative
products and sustainable solutions.” “Zhanjiang is a
perfect location for BASF to further strengthen our
footprint of local production in China,” said Dr Stephan
Kothrade, president of Asia Pacific Functions, and
president and chairman for Greater China at BASF. BASF
signed the first Memorandum of Understanding for the
Verbund site with the Guangdong Provincial Government
in Berlin, Germany, in July 2018. In January 2019, the
company signed a Framework Agreement setting out
further details of the plan. The Verbund site in Guangdong
would be BASF’s largest investment. The first plant EMEA at Total Corbion PLA. “Turkey is an important
producing engineering plastics compounds is expected manufacturing base for many plastics products with
to be operational by 2022, and the whole Verbund site is over 7,000 known converters and much innovation
planned to be completed by 2030. The BASF project will is taking place there. Our cooperation with Kumru
include petrochemical plants, while a steam cracker with Kimya will significantly contribute to understanding
a planned capacity of one million tonnes of ethylene per and meeting the fast rising demand for biopolymers
year would be the starting point of the value chains at in Turkey.”
the new integrated site.

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65 December 2019 Plastics News