SINGAPORE (Nov 4): Evonik Industries, a German speciality chemicals maker with a global presence, has officially opened its mega production plant in Singapore.

The facility at Jurong Island costs more than €500 million ($807 million), the most Evonik has ever spent on a single chemical project, the company said in a statement today.

The facility took two years to build and is Evonik’s first world-scale methionine plant in Asia.

The plant can produce 150,000 metric tonnes of methionine annually, and will boost Evonik’s global methionine capacity to 580,000 metric tonnes.

Methionine is an amino acid used as an additive in animal feed.

“Methionine is one of our core businesses and Asia is the fastest-growing methionine market in the world. This is why we decided to build here,” Evonik chairman Klaus Engel said at the facility’s opening ceremony today.

The new plant will create about 200 jobs for skilled workers in Singapore.

According to Evonik, it is the only company in the world that produces and markets the four most important amino acids required in advanced animal feed.

The company has more than 33,500 employees worldwide and is present in more than 100 countries.