Vitamins soared 256%! BASF announced a supply cut!

On the evening of August 7, BASF (China) learned that due to the fire at a device at the Ludwigshafen base in Germany on July 29, 2024, BASF Europe (also on behalf of its affected affiliates) announced that from now until further notice, the supply of some vitamin A, vitamin E, carotenoid products and some fragrance raw materials products will be affected by force majeure. The fragrance raw materials involved include ionone, floridol, DL-menthol, rose oxide, ethyl linalool, nerolidol and isophytol. BASF actively maintains communication with customers to provide the latest information on the supply capacity of affected products.We BLIT Chemical as leading chemical supplier in China can provide above product at factory price,for more please contact info@blitchem.com

Earlier, on July 29, an explosion occurred at the chemical giant BASF’s factory in Ludwigshafen, southwestern Germany, causing minor injuries to 15 employees.
Industry insiders all agreed that this incident will have a significant impact on the market supply and demand structure of related products.

An industry researcher even predicted: The impact of this accident on the industry may exceed market expectations! According to the latest report, there is no hope for short-term resumption of production, which will have a significant impact on the supply of related vitamin products.

On August 7, a well-known domestic vitamin manufacturer recently re-quoted its prices. Before the accident, the company’s VA and VE prices were based on market conditions, at 90-95 yuan per kilogram. However, the current VA price has reached 320 yuan per kilogram, and the VE price has reached 150 yuan per kilogram. Among them, the VA price has risen by 237%-256%.

First, BASF has an important say in supply. The two major varieties of VA and VE are mainly distributed in China and Europe. Among them, industry leaders represented by BASF and DSM basically determine the overseas supply capacity. According to industry statistics, BASF Ludwigshafen’s VA production capacity is about 14,400 tons (6,000 tons of 500,000 IU/g old line + 1,500 tons of 2.8 million IU/g new line), accounting for about 27% of the world. BASF Ludwigshafen’s VE production capacity is about 40,000 tons, accounting for about 17% of the current global effective production capacity.

Second, the industry itself is already in an upward cycle, and the accident has added fuel to the market. Although the vitamin industry once fell below the cost line and was in a downturn in the past few years, since this year, with the improvement of the prosperity of the breeding industry, the vitamin industry has clearly recovered. From the perspective of product prices, vitamin products generally show an upward trend. In the VA market, before the BASF accident, the transaction price of VA market had reached 90-95 yuan/kg, up nearly 30% from 72 yuan/kg at the beginning of the year; in the VE market, before the BASF accident, it had reached 90 yuan/kg, up nearly 50% from 60 yuan/kg at the beginning of the year.

Third, with history as a reference, after the explosion of another giant DSM Swiss Senen factory in history, the prices of related raw materials also soared. On January 10, 2018, an explosion occurred at DSM Swiss Senen factory, which mainly produces vitamin products such as VA, VE, VK, and astaxanthin. Affected by the accident, the prices of related vitamin products jumped. It is reported that the price of VA in Europe has risen to 360 euros-430 euros/kg; the domestic price of VA has risen to 1,100 yuan-1,400 yuan/kg, and the manufacturer’s quotation has reached 1,600 yuan/kg.

In the short term, prices are expected to continue to rise