In another move to serve the pharmaceutical industry, chemical production giant BASF will build a formic acid plant in Geismar, LA. The 50,000 ton-plus-per-year plant is expected to be completed in 2014 and will employ up to 20, InPharm reports. It will be the only formic acid manufacturing facility in the U.S. and improves the position of the German chemicalmaker to sell into markets in North and South America. The company is the largest producer of formic acid in the world, and with the new plant will have total production capacity of more than 250,000 tons annually. It also has plants in Ludwigshafen in Germany and Nanjing, China. Last week, BASF announced that it would move production of its pharmaceutical solubility agent Kolliphor TMTPGS from its plant in Kankakee, IL, to a manufacturing facility in Minden, Germany. It said no jobs would be lost or gained as a result of that move. The shift to Germany will begin in the first quarter of 2013 and be completed by the first quarter of 2014. Story | More