- A fire occurred at a BASF plant in Germany at the end of July, damaging the facility.
- BASF announced a halt in production of aromatic ingredients and vitamin A, E and carotenoid precursors.
- It is not possible to set an exact date for the plant to resume operations, but it is estimated that it will not return to normal operations until early 2025 at the earliest.
- The event has affected market fluctuations in vitamin A and E and a significant increase in their prices.
Fire at BASF plant affected production of flavouring ingredients and vitamins
BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, this month announced production problems for some of its products as a result of a fire at a plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, which occurred on 29 July. The fire was preceded by an explosion, the cause of which is not known. The plant is part of BASF Nutrition & Health, a segment of the company dedicated to the production of a wide range of products related to human and animal nutrition, pharmaceuticals and flavour and fragrance ingredients. The company’s business area is Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. The Ludwigshafen plant produces aroma ingredients and precursors for the manufacture of vitamin A, vitamin E and carotenoids. The plant fire is not the first such incident in BASF’s history – a similar one occurred in 2017 at the Ludwigshafen plant for the production of citral and isoprenol-based aroma ingredients.
When can customers expect production to resume?
The fire led to damage to the plant, with production suspended until further notice, affecting deliveries to customers. It is not known when the plant will resume operations. Damage assessment, inspection work, cleaning of the plant and repair of damage is ongoing. Any updates on the work to get the plant back in operation are posted on a dedicated website. BASF is also in close contact with customers whose deliveries have been affected by the damage to the plant. It is tentatively anticipated that selected flavouring ingredients could be available as early as October, with more to follow in November. Vitamin A, vitamin E and carotenoids will not be available until January next year at the earliest. It will take another few months for production shortages to be filled. The market is seeing a lot of volatility in the availability and prices of vitamins A and E.
