THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS - IFEAT

Then, in 2010, Symrise announced plans to doublecapacity at its German site to 5,000~6,000 tonnesby 2012. Takasago announced plans for expansionto 3,000 tonnes by 2012. BASF entered the marketwith a complete production facility in the thirdquarter of 2012 with 5,000 tonnes, which can beincreased, to 10,000 tonnes!2012 Synthetic Menthol – Production Capacity! Symrise5,000~6000 metrictons(Current production at 4000 metrictons and 50% for internal use)! Takasago3,000 metric tons! BASFInitially 5,000metric tonsWorld Top 10 Chemicals Companies -2010! BASF SE (Germany)! The Dow Chemical Company (USA)! ExxonMobil (USA)! Sinopec (China)! LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (Dutch)! Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Saudi Arabia)! Shell (Dutch)! Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation(Japan)! INEOS (Switzerland)! E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company (USA)Source: icis.comBASF is the world’s largest chemical companywith a sales turnover in 2010 of Euro 63 billion (orUS$85 billion) and a net profit of Euro 4.5 billion(i.e. a net profit margin of 7% - and an average of3%~8%, with the exception of DuPont at 11% andSBIC at 25%).BASF’s road to menthol began some three decadesago. In 1981 BASF started manufacturing citral,(the raw material for the aroma chemicals linalooland geraniol), with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes thatreached 40,000 tons in 2004. In 2004 a new 40,000tonnes citral plant was established atLudwigshafen, Germany to produce synthetic vitamins A and E and other carotenoids. In 2010, itannounced plans to produce synthetic menthol with a production capacity of 5,000 – 10,000 tonnes ayear. Menthol, in comparison to its other activities, is a small or, should I say, a tiny business forBASF.The chart shows that in 2010, totalsupply of menthol is greater thandemand. Assuming that naturalmenthol production remains constantat 22,000 tonnes per year, anddemand increases by 7% per year.Assuming new production ofsynthetic menthol starts in late 2012,supply may exceed demand by2016.Menthol – Projected Demand2012~201620