Producer
BASF SE
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen Germany; DAX: BAS; ~€69B revenue) is the world's largest chemical company and a major buyer, processor, and re-supplier of C12/C14 fatty acids through its Care Chemicals division. BASF does not produce palm kernel oil-derived fatty acids at the primary cracking stage, but it processes fatty acid streams into finished personal care and cosmetic ingredients — including fatty acid alkanolamides (cocamide MEA, lauramide DEA), sodium laurate soap bases, and other derivatives. BASF also acts as a strategic procurer of fatty acids from Malaysian and Indonesian producers (KLK OLEO, Wilmar, Emery) for conversion at its Ludwigshafen Verbund complex. BASF's acquisition of Cognis in 2010 (€3.1B) brought it the Cognis fatty acid and surfactant businesses including European oleochemical processing capacity. BASF's Care Chemicals segment supplies personal care ingredient distributors and direct-to-manufacturer across Europe, North America, and Asia. While BASF is not a primary C12/C14 fatty acid producer, its conversion capacity and market intermediation role give it ~5-8% effective share of the European C12/C14 fatty acid market.
5
Inputs supplied
3
Goods downstream
2
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
5 inputs BASF SE supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
chemical
Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) Surfactant →
chemical
Superabsorbent Polymer (SAP) for Diapers →
chemical
Jet fuel corrosion inhibitor / lubricity improver →
chemical
STADIS 450 antistatic additive (Innospec) →
agricultural
Palm Kernel / Coconut Fatty Alcohols →
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something BASF SE makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
2 facilities
BASF Jinshan Chemical Complex — Care Chemicals (Shanghai) →
CNShanghai · chemical-plant
BASF's Jinshan Chemical Complex in the Jinshan District of Shanghai is a major surfactant production site for Asia serving Chinese and APAC personal care markets. BASF produces Texapon N 70 (SLES) and related care chemicals for local supply to Unilever and P&G Asian operations, reducing shipping cost vs. European-sourced product. Part of BASF's integrated China operations. Source: https://www.basf.com/global/en/who-we-are/organization/locations/asia-pacific/chinese-sites.html
BASF Verbund Ludwigshafen — Care Chemicals / Surfactants →
DERhineland-Palatinate · chemical-plant
BASF's headquarters Verbund complex in Ludwigshafen is the largest contiguous chemical complex in the world (~10 km²; ~200 production plants; 30,000+ employees on site). The Care Chemicals division produces SLES (Texapon N 70) here via falling-film SO3 sulfonation of ethoxylated fatty alcohols. Fatty alcohols are supplied from BASF's own production or from Wilmar/KLK OLEO. The Verbund integration means ethylene oxide (for ethoxylation) is piped from BASF's own crackers — a structural cost and supply advantage over standalone surfactant plants. Source: https://www.basf.com/global/en/who-we-are/organization/locations/europe/german-sites/ludwigshafen.html
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Chemicals
20%Materials (Performance Polymers)
18%Industrial Solutions (Dispersions & Additives)
15%Surface Technologies (Coatings & Catalysts)
17%Nutrition & Care (Personal Care / Pharma)
15%Agricultural Solutions
15%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2024
BASF's superabsorbent polymer (SAP) business is the world's largest by volume — BASF's cross-linked polyacrylic acid SAP is the absorbent core in the majority of disposable baby diapers and adult incontinence products globally. The same cross-linked polyacrylic acid chemistry also produces BASF's agricultural drought-resistance polymers (water retention agents mixed into soil to reduce irrigation requirements) and industrial water treatment flocculants. The polymer that keeps an infant dry in a Pampers diaper and the polymer that helps a drought-stressed wheat field retain irrigation water share the same Ludwigshafen polymer chemistry platform. BASF's Materials division, which makes SAP, also produces the MDI and TDI isocyanates for polyurethane insulation used in buildings — an inadvertent connection: the company that makes the diaper polymer also makes the insulation in the building where the diaper is changed.
BASF SE ↗Origin2023
BASF (Badische Anilin und Soda-Fabrik) was founded in 1865 in Mannheim by Friedrich Engelhorn to produce synthetic aniline dyes for Germany's textile industry. The founding product — synthetic mauve dye that did not require extraction from sea snails or natural sources — was part of the 19th-century synthetic chemistry revolution that made Germany's chemical industry the world leader. BASF's most consequential scientific achievement was the Haber-Bosch nitrogen fixation process, developed between 1908-1913 at BASF's Oppau facility near Ludwigshafen with scientists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch. The Haber-Bosch process — converting atmospheric nitrogen (N2) and hydrogen to ammonia (NH3) — enabled both synthetic nitrogen fertilizer production (feeding an estimated half of the current world population via Green Revolution agriculture) AND nitrogen explosives production (ammonium nitrate, trinitrotoluene precursors, for WWI munitions). The same chemical process at the same BASF facilities fed humanity and armed Germany's WWI war machine simultaneously.
BASF SE ↗