September 10, 2003
Degussa to Build Another Methionine Facility At Its Antwerp Plant
On Sept 10, Degussa AG of Dusseldorf announced that it will now be building a further facility at its location in Antwerp, Belgium, for the production of the essential amino acid DL-methionine for use in animal feed. Approval for this step was provided yesterday by the Supervisory Board. The methionine production facility will be costing about €350 million altogether, making it the 'new' Degussa's largest investment to date. The new plant will have a capacity of 150,000 tonnes a year and is to be completed by 2005.
Degussa Management Board Chairman Prof. Utz-Hellmuth Felcht emphasizes the strategic significance of the investment decision: "Expanding this attractive core business field takes our efforts to focus on specialty chemicals a consistent step forward. We are a customer-oriented supplier of innovative system solutions also with regard to methionine and with its help make an important contribution towards environmentally-compatible animal feed."
"The new production facility will enable us to further expand our position as world market leader in methionine and as a leading supplier of feed additives. It sets new standards in terms of installation size and degree of vertical integration," states Dr. Hubert Wennemer, Head of the Feed Additives Business Unit.
Degussa's Feed Additives Business Unit is the only manufacturer in the world to produce all three of the important animal feed amino acids DL-methionine, L-lysine (Biolys®) and L-threonine, which it makes at five locations in four countries. The business unit, which sells its products in over 100 countries of the world, generated sales of €568 million in fiscal 2002.
Degussa is a multinational corporation consistently aligned to highly profitable specialty chemistry. With sales of €11.8 billion and a workforce of some 48,000, it is Germany's third-largest chemical company and the world market leader in specialty chemicals. In fiscal 2002, the corporation generated operating profits (EBIT) of more than €900 million. Degussa's core strength lies in highly-effective system solutions that are tailored to the requirements of its customers in over 100 countries throughout the world. Degussa's activities are led by the vision "Everybody benefits from a Degussa product - every day and everywhere".
