BASF’s paper chemicals division is to close production of XSB (carboxylated styrol butadiene) paper coating binders at its sites in Guturribay, Spain, Kaipiainen, Finland, and Ribécourt, France, by mid-2010. This represents a reduction of about 40%, or 310,000 tonnes, of the company’s total XSB capacity in Europe.
The company says consolidating production at its plants in Hamina, in Finland, Ludwigshafen, Germany), and Pischelsdorf, Austria, will significantly increase capacity utilisation at those plants while improving its cost structure. Forty employees will be affected at the plants to be closed.
BASF’s paper coating binder business is suffering from unsatisfactory profitability due to overcapacities in the European market, which has shrunk steadily in recent years. The decision to consolidate production was based on a thorough analysis of all six XSB plants in Europe.
“With this move, we are adapting our production capacities to changes in customer demand, and the new set-up will give BASF a well distributed network of production sites for supplying our customers throughout Europe,” says Eckhard Hilgemann, group vice-president Coatings & Starch Europe of the Paper Chemicals division.
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