December 19, 2016

Evonik, Chr. Hansen cease cooperation in Asia Pacific

Evonik Industries and Danish company Chr. Hansen plan to end their cooperation in the Asia Pacific region effective from December 31, 2016, onwards.

Evonik had been a distributor for Chr. Hansen's probiotic feed additives for swine and poultry feed in the region since 2012.   

"We enjoyed a highly trusting partnership with Chr. Hansen, but want to be active in the probiotics market with our own products in the future," Dr. Emmanuel Auer, head of the Animal Nutrition Business Line at Evonik, explains the decision.   

Evonik acquired the probiotics business of the Spanish company NOREL in the summer of 2016. The transaction added two probiotic animal nutrition products to the specialist company's feed amino acids portfolio: Ecobiol^® (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) for broilers, and Fecinor^® (Enterococcus faecium) for piglet breeding. More products are expected to follow.   

Probiotics are living microorganisms, which are administered with the feed and have been proven to show health-promoting effects in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. They play an important role in livestock breeding as natural alternatives to antibiotics and antibiotic growth promoters.   

"We aim to offer the most comprehensive range of solutions for healthy and sustainable animal nutrition by including probiotics," Auer says.   

- Evonik