Buoyed by strong demand, Evonik to expand presence in chemicals sector

China is a major driving force of global economic growth and German specialty chemicals maker Evonik is looking to expand its footprint here, its top executive said.

"The Chinese industry is somewhat … like the red locomotive of the global economy in the global industry, which has also helped us in Europe to mitigate the impact of the crisis of the last (few) years," said Christian Kullmann, CEO of Evonik, during an interview with China Daily.

Of the 15.3 billion euros ($16.5 billion) in revenue that Evonik generated last year, about one-fifth came from Asia, and the China market contributed more than 40 percent of the Asia revenue.

"The Asian market, represented by China, has always been a driving force for the global economy and an important growth market for Evonik. Evonik regards China as one of the driving forces of the global economy," Kullmann said.

He also commended the transformation of the Chinese chemicals industry from one of quantity to quality over the past decade, saying "that is what we, especially chemicals companies, are going to benefit from first".

Evonik's confidence in China's future is based on the scale of the nation's market, its status in the global economy as well as the resilience of the country's economy, he said.

"China's economy has proved that it is able to act in a more resilient way and grow in a more resilient way than other regions have done in the past. So, that is what gives me confidence in this kind of economic progress."

Citing industry data which show that China's global chemical market share will exceed 50 percent by 2030 and contribute to 75 percent of chemical production growth, Kullmann said the country is also the world's largest producer and consumer of specialty chemicals.

"In a nutshell, to remain in China means that Evonik will obtain chances for attractive growth in the future," he said.

China has become the pivot of the global chemicals industry, wrote Zhao Jun, an expert from the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, in an article published on the website of China Chemical Industry News.

Zhao said China's chemical industry has grown by 8 percent annually in the past decade. In 2021, the nation's chemical sector reached a market scale of 1.7 trillion euros, accounting for 43 percent of the global total, the European Chemical Industry Council said.

Meanwhile, China tops the world in chemical investment and research and development expenditure, with 100 billion euros and 15 billion euros, respectively, and the two numbers are projected to grow further in the next five years, Zhao said.

"Evonik wants to grow with the Chinese market. Therefore, we are increasing our local footprint to better serve the market by continuously expanding our local innovation and production capabilities," Kullmann said.

Evonik China Co Ltd and Shandong Vland Biotech Co Ltd agreed last year to build a joint venture to expand their presence in gut health solutions products for farm animals globally.

Kullmann said: "It is not an ordinary business. Here, we are focusing on biotechnology. And, for Evonik, I guess it goes without saying that biotechnology is one of the future pillars of the chemicals industry all over the world.

"In the future, we will have much more chances, for sure, better opportunities for collaboration, maybe with partners in Asia, and particularly in China, in fostering those ideas, in gaining next steps, in particular for products or processes in fighting climate change."