Aroma Ingredients

Diversified production footprint to ensure reliable supply for the Flavor & Fragrance industry

In dynamic times, you need a reliable partner capable of delivering worldwide. As one of the world's leading manufacturers of aroma ingredients for the flavor and fragrance industry, our goal is to meet your needs for large volume quantities and manage unforeseen fluctuations in demand.

Our global production network – comprising world-scale plants in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in Kuantan, Malaysia and (currently under construction) in Zhanjiang, China – puts us in a unique position to ensure the highest level of supply security. Our diversified production setup combined with local warehouses and dedicated teams make the difference when it comes to supporting you with reliable supply.

Citral plant at BASF's Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany

Integrated Chemical Site in Kuantan, Malaysia

Building of BASF's new smart Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China

Our latest investment

Our most recent investment includes a new citral plant as part of our Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China, as well as menthol and linalool downstream plants at our Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

These plants are expected to come on stream from 2026 onwards. With this investment, we will further expand and diversify our existing aroma ingredients’ citral value chain footprint to support our customers’ growth opportunities. The citral plant in China will strengthen our position in key growth regions and increase production of a broad range of aroma ingredients and further downstream products globally.

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Citral Value Chain: Enabling Our Olfactory Landscape

Citral is a key raw material that forms the basis for a wide range of BASF products, including fragrance ingredients, vitamins and personal care products. As a key ingredient, citral is also the basis for the majority of BASF's portfolio of aroma ingredients, which include downstream products such as geraniol, citronellol, ionone, pyranol, linalool and menthol.

BASF is committed to sustainability, which is reflected in its innovative use of products, by-products and waste to reduce energy consumption and minimize environmental impact. For example, most products and even side-streams in the citral value chain are further processed to produce a diverse range of key fragrance ingredients.

In our Research & Development departments we continue to look for new ways to reduce waste and increase efficiency throughout the citral value chain. That is how we ensure that this value chain will contribute to BASF's net zero CO₂ emission target for the year 2050.

BASF Production Verbund: World Champion in Efficiency

The Ludwigshafen site is the cradle of the Verbund idea. It was here that the idea was conceived and continuously further developed.

The Verbund helps BASF to handle resources more efficiently and generate competitive advantages.

Of all six BASF Verbund sites, Ludwigshafen is the largest. Production facilities, energy flow, logistics and infrastructure are networked together intelligently in the Verbund. In this system, chemical processes can run in a resource-efficient way with lower energy consumption and higher yields.

Read more about BASF's Verbund Idea

Decades of Experience

Our long experience and tradition in the flavor & fragrance industry dates back to the 1970s, when we started up our first citral production plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Since then, we have stood alongside our customers to shape the future of the F&F market with them.