The company is also donating 1 million masks to the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, where BASF’s corporate headquarters are located (Ludwigshafen). The masks will be purchased in China and prepared for shipment to Germany.

BASF expects the first delivery of masks at Frankfurt Airport at the beginning of next week, and the materials will be handed over to the Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn and the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate Malu Dreyer. BASF is responsible for the costs of purchasing and transporting the masks. The masks will be distributed by the Federal Ministry of Health and, in Rhineland-Palatinate, by the State Office for Social Affairs, Youth and Welfare.

“An emergency situation such as this can only be managed by all of us together”, commented Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of BASF’s Board of Executive Directors, adding: “We are therefore using our purchasing networks and logistics in China to help.”

The mask donation is one of several initiatives of BASF’s “Helping Hands” campaign. BASF is committed to fighting the pandemic worldwide with a total of approximately 100 million euros.

Another focus is the production of hand sanitizer. BASF has created new capacities at sites such as Ludwigshafen, Düsseldorf and Münster-Hiltrup and is able to produce up to 1 million litres of hand sanitizer with the raw materials purchased. Around 150 000 liters have already been distributed free of charge to hospitals and other healthcare facilities (doctors, nursing homes) in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region and around other BASF sites. Throughout Germany, sanitizing products are now also being distributed free of charge via the digital marketplace of the German Chemical Industry Association, VCI, (Emergency Supply Sanitizer). BASF has also started producing hand sanitizer in France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey and the United States in order to donate them to fight the virus.

Across the world, BASF currently provides around 175 000 litres of sanitizer per week free of charge.  New raw materials, such as bioethanol, were also approved to produce sanitizing products. Previously, BASF did not manufacture hand sanitizer, but sold some raw materials for them.