Workers undertake construction of a BASF plant in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province. [Photo/China Daily]

German chemical giant BASF launched the first plant at its new Zhanjiang Verbund site in the port city of Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, on Tuesday, making a milestone in the speeding up of comprehensive construction within the mega project.

The new plant will produce 60,000 metric tons of engineering plastic compounds per year for customers in China, bringing BASF's total annual capacity of engineering plastics in the Asia-Pacific to 420,000 metric tons by 2023.

The new plant will enable BASF to meet growing demand from customers, particularly in the automotive and electronics industries.

"It is an exciting start for our Zhanjiang Verbund site," said Martin Brudermuller, chairman of the board of executive directors, BASF SE.

"The inauguration of the first plant paves the way for the site. Upon completion, it will be our third-largest Verbund site globally and a role model for sustainable production both in China and around the world," he said.

The plant will be supplied with 100 percent renewable electricity, and BASF aims to power the entire Zhanjiang Verbund site with 100 percent renewable power by 2025.

Markus Kamieth, a member of the board of executive directors, BASF SE, said the Zhanjiang Verbund site will be built with the latest digital technologies and to the highest safety standards, and it will provide high-quality, low-carbon footprint products and build up stronger business connections with customers in South China, underlining BASF's commitment to the Chinese market.

Kamieth is responsible for BASF Asia-Pacific region.

South China's Guangdong and BASF have vowed to jointly promote and accelerate the comprehensive construction of the Zhanjiang Verbund site project in the months to come after a high-level consultation meeting.

Wang Weizhong, Guangdong governor, met Brudermuller to further discuss the promotion and acceleration of construction of the Zhanjiang project during the meeting held in the city on Monday.

The meeting was also attended by Zhang Hu, executive vice-governor of Guangdong, Kamieth, other senior officials from Guangdong and BASF executives.

Wang said that as an international large-scale petrochemical project, BASF's Zhanjiang Verbund site is a benchmark project representing Sino-German cooperation.

"The project has been promoted with high efficiency and progress has been achieved in recent years," he said.

Wang added that the project leads the construction of major petrochemical bases in China and even globally, which can be called the "new speed of the new era".

"This fully confirms that Guangdong, a major global production base, not only has a good atmosphere of opening-up and Sino-foreign cooperation, but also has a good business environment to attract international investment," he said, adding that Zhanjiang is in a key stage of a new round of great development.

"The Guangdong provincial government will, as always, fully support BASF's investment and development in Guangdong, and actively provide high-quality services in human resources, lifestyle logistics and other aspects, and provide a market-oriented, legal and international business environment for the project's construction," Wang said.

"We are confident of working with BASF to build the Zhanjiang Verbund site of BASF into a beacon and benchmark project of green, low-carbon and sustainable development in the global petrochemical industry," he added.

In July 2022, BASF made the final investment decision for the main construction phase of the Verbund site, covering the heart of the Verbund project including a steam cracker and downstream plants to support customers in the dynamic Chinese market. This phase is targeted to start up in late 2025.

An expansion phase covering further downstream plants for diversification is expected to be operational by 2028.