Germany’s BASF officially inaugurated its newly built, world-scale Verbund site in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, on March 26. The site, with a total investment of €8.7 billion, is BASF's third-largest site worldwide. “Many people have asked us: why Zhanjiang, why now, why at this incredible scale? Our answer has always been clear – because we believe in this market, we believe in the drive of this region, in the talent of its people, and the power of partnership to achieve what no one can achieve alone. That belief has never wavered,” Markus Kamieth, CEO of BASF, said at the ceremony attended by representatives from the government, customers, business partners, and employees.
In a video message, Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said that the BASF Zhanjiang Verbund site, the biggest German-funded project in China, has received strong support from both governments since its 2019 launch. Its full commissioning marks a milestone in China-Germany economic cooperation, and it is set to boost BASF's growth, drive local industrial development, and serve as a new model for China-Germany and China-EU trade ties, Wang said.
The project was inaugurated amid a week of high-level forums in China that has attracted numerous multinational executives, including the China Development Forum (CDF), a clear signal that the world's second-largest economy remains committed to opening-up and sharing development opportunities with the world.
Meanwhile, a number of multinational companies have recently announced plans to expand their investment in China. On March 11, U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly unveiled plans to invest USD3 billion over the next decade to scale up its supply chain and manufacturing capacity in China, including the local large-scale production of an innovative oral drug. Schneider Electric is on the verge of completing several major projects in China. The expansion of Schneider Electric's Beijing Yizhuang Industrial Park will boost both production capacity and the digital research and development capabilities of its China Software Center; its new industrial park in Wuxi is nearing completion; and the newly built Xiamen Industrial Park is scheduled to begin production in 2026. Federal Express said that it had launched its first solar panel installation at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport, serving as an example of the company's ongoing efforts to advance sustainable logistics infrastructure.
“For multinationals, investing in China has shifted from a discretionary choice to a strategic necessity,” He Yongqian, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said. A total of 8,631 new foreign-invested firms were established across China in the first two months of the year, up 14% year-on-year. High-tech industries attracted CNY63.21 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the period, up 20.4% year-on-year and accounting for 39.2% of the nation's total FDI, the Global Times reports.
