Evonik Industries invests in new plant in Singapore 

The latest investment of more than 500 million euros (Bt19 billion) comes less than two years after the group opened its first such facility here in November 2014.
The methionine plant is set to become operational in 2019 and create more than 150 |jobs, in addition to some 500 staff across its operations here.
It will be able to make 150,000 metric tonnes of methionine, an essential amino acid used in animal feed.
This will lift Evonik’s annual capacity to about 300,000 metric tonnes in Asia and about 700,000 metric tonnes worldwide. 
It aims to meet rising methionine demand especially in Asia, said Reiner Beste, chairman of Evonik Nutrition and Care. 
“We have a growing world population demanding an increasing amount of healthy food, including meat, fish, eggs and milk, which is why the global methionine market will require bigger supplies over the coming years,” he said.
Asia is Frankfurt-listed Evonik’s biggest growth |market for methionine, expanding at about 6-7 per cent annually. 
It pulled in revenues of about 13.5 billion euro last year, of which 2.86 billion euro came from Asia-Pacific, up 17 per cent on year.
Klaus Engel, executive chairman of Evonik Industries, said the firm again selected Singapore as a location because it can serve the Asian growth markets particularly well.
Evonik’s two plants here mark the group’s largest investment outside Germany and its largest methionine site in the world.
The firm in May last year doubled on-site capacities of its oil additives facility on Jurong Island.
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who was at the event, said Evonik’s new facility – being built so soon after its first – is a “statement of confidence” in Singapore as a site for high-value manufacturing. 
Such plants are typically built every seven to eight years, he said, adding that the plants will create more high-skill jobs here. 
“It complements our broader efforts to develop the skills needed for the jobs of the future.”