German specialty chemicals manufacturer Evonik Industries will set up another methionine plant on Jurong Island, the company said on Wednesday.
The Jurong island plant, which entails investment upwards of S$762 million, is the second plant the global chemical firm establishes in Singapore in two years.
When the new plant becomes operational in 2019, Evonik's production capacity in Singapore will hit 300,000 tonnes per year.
With this, the Jurong facility will become the company's largest site in the world that produces methionine, an amino acid used in the production of animal feed.
Evonik said ramping up Singapore operations will ensure the company is placed well to meet rising Asian demand for meat.
"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," Dr Reiner Beste, chairman of the board of management at Evonik Nutrition & Care, told the Straits Times.
The new plant will create more than 150 new jobs, the company said.
"We have again selected Singapore as a location because we can serve the Asian growth markets particularly well from here. With the new facility, we can continue to develop our market and technological leadership in the methionine business," Evonik Chairman Klaus Engel added.
"Our methionine complex, which came onstream in late 2014 on Jurong Island, is a success story. This led to our decision to build a second plant next to it," he said.
