Evonik Strengthens Its Presence in China   
By John Zheng   

Emerged from the former RAG group in September 2007, Evonik Industries is the creative industrial group from Germany which operates in three highly profitable, promising business area: Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate. Its business activities are present in more than 100 countries and regions world wide. The chemical business area of Evonik (previously known as Degussa) is the global leader in specialty chemicals.
   Evonik Industries has been producing specialty chemical products in China since the early 1990's, with wide-ranging trading relations already in place prior to this. The Group now owns 20 companies in the Greater China Region, with production sites in more than ten cities.
    "In fiscal year 2007, 4 200 employees generated sales of 754 million euros in Greater China Region, which is a 28% increase over 2006" released by Dr. Dahai Yu, President Evonik Greater China Region, at the media press held by Evonik Degussa (China) Co., Ltd. in Hangzhou of Zhejiang province in May 30th. At the press, he made comprehensive conclusion about the development of Evonik in 2007, in particular the development in Greater China.
    Evonik regards China as one of the driving forces of the global economy, and consequently increases investments in China with target to achieve sales in the area of 1 billion euros in the Greater China Region by 2009.

Research and development

For a creative industry group such as Evonik, linking innovation and market proximity is a crucial factor behind its business success. Evonik therefore opened a Research & Development Center in Shanghai in 2004, which was expanded in mid-2007. The investment totals more than 20 million euros. The R&D Center offers the opportunity to develop specific products locally and to introduce them to potential customers. This approach enables its business units to cater much more effectively for the requirements of the Chinese market.

Large investment projects

In June 2006, Evonik brought the first production facilities into operation at its multi-user site (MUSC) at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park for polyesters and colorants.
   In September 15th, 2007, Evonik held a ground breaking ceremony for a new integrated production plant for the manufacture of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and methacrylic specialties at MUSC. (CCR 2007, No.27) The investment volume for the entire plant including all preliminary stages is around 250 million euros, which makes it the largest MMA production site in Asia and the second largest single investment of the Evonik's chemicals business area. The world-scale facility will go into operation in 2009.  The annual capacity is of around 100 000 tons. The facility will supply raw materials for downstream monomer and polymer specialties for applications in optoelectronics, the adhesives and coatings industries and automotive construction.
    In December 2007 Sanzheng (Yingkou) Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Evonik started the construction on the 30 000 t/a cyanuric chloride plant at Chongqing Chemical Industrial Park, southwestern China to meet the needs in agricultural applications and in the textile, paper and plastics industries. The plant is scheduled to go on stream by the end of 2008. The reasons for the choice of Chongqing Chemical Industrial Park are its excellent supply of raw materials and good industrial infrastructure.

Sustained development

    1. Environmental protection
Environmental protection is integrated into the management of all Evonik's business processes. Evonik aims to achieve by 2014 a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and since 2004 has already achieved more than one third of this goal. Water consumption and production waste have been reduced by 35% and 20% respectively in two years.

    2. Energy-efficiency investment program
Energy efficiency is currently a worldwide megatrend. Through its top-notch, high-tech products, Evonik will contribute toward security of energy supplies and, at the same time, toward protection of the environment and climate. "We're allocating up to two billion euros for this purpose from 2008 to the end of 2010 alone," commented by Dr. Dahai Yu. For Evonik, the energy efficiency megatrend is an important driver of growth. The German group recognized this trend early and has identified the relevant future markets.
   Evonik will invest not only in state-of-the-art power plants and renewable energies, but also in products for the photovoltaics industry and lithium-ion technology. Evonik has earmarked a total of more than three billion euros for capital investment-including pro rata investment in energy efficiency-in the years 2008 and 2009.
  Evonik has promoted "energy conservation projects" in China, where it offers solutions to many areas such as automobiles, buildings, and regenerative and traditional energy sources.
    In addition, Evonik has been focusing on the production of customized products. On May 27th, 2008, more than 50 customers from different ASEAN countries attended the first Customer Day organized by the High Performance Polymers Business Line of Evonik in the Southeast Asia region. Characteristics and benefits of each product series were explained and their applications in the various industries were introduced.