In its 2025 report, BASF confirmed that the isocyanates value-chain expansion at Geismar, Louisiana (described as its largest standalone investment in North America) remains on schedule to start up in 2026. The project raises North American MDI capacity from 380,000 to around 600,000 tonnes per year. Industry reporting has put the total investment at roughly US$1 billion.
MDI capacity additions are watched closely because the global market swings between tightness and oversupply on relatively small shifts in available tonnage. Lifting a single site's output from 380,000 to about 600,000 tonnes per year (an increase of more than half) meaningfully changes the North American supply balance and gives BASF a larger domestic base from which to serve insulation, construction, automotive and appliance customers.
The investment also reflects a regional strategy. Adding isocyanate capacity in North America shortens supply chains for local converters and reduces their exposure to the trans-oceanic freight and force-majeure risks that have disrupted the market elsewhere. For a producer, owning capacity close to demand is a hedge against exactly the kind of shipping-route disruption seen in other regions this year.
For buyers outside North America the read-across is indirect but real: new merchant MDI capacity coming online eases global tightness at the margin, even when most of the output is earmarked for the local market. It is one of several capacity projects the industry is tracking as it judges whether the recent cost-push cycle will moderate.