1957 - 1989
Phoenix from the Ashes
Under pressure from the trade embargo that the U.S. had imposed on China, the direct business dealings between BASF and China were rather tough from 1957 on.
In 1964, China began to establish the Guangzhou Trade Fairs, which were held twice a year and served the promotion of foreign trade.
The BASF Board of Executive Directors had already declared its interest in even building its own production facilities in China in mid-1962.
BASF was achieving a total revenue of almost 12 billion DM in 1972, an all-time high in the company’s history. They distributed an extensive product range through the Danish-German China merchants Jebsen & Co., which covered nearly all Chinese industries.
The Chinese leadership was very interested in buying advanced western chemical technology in order to further develop its national economy.
The expansion of business in China and the related negotiations with Chinese authorities made it necessary to have permanent company representation in the capital.
BASF paved the way towards building its own large-scale organization in China. This meant separating from Jebsen & Co. after decades of successful cooperation.
In the course of the reform measures initiated by Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leaders had started to separate the petrochemical complexes from their ministerial bonds.
What had been established nationwide officially resulted in founding the China National Petrochemical Company (CNPC) in July 1983, in which Sinopec had the primary responsibility for the operational business.