Speech by Minister Grace Fu at Evonik SIMEX Grand Opening Ceremony

Her Excellency Dr Bettina Fanghänel, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Singapore

Dr Harald Schwager, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Evonik Industries

Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen

Pleasantries

1. Good afternoon.

It is my pleasure to join you at the opening of Evonik’s Singapore Methionine Expansion, or SIMEX for short.

55 years of growth and strong partnership with Singapore

2. Since its first sales office was set up here in 1969, Evonik has grown to be one of the largest players in Singapore’s Energy & Chemicals industry.

Over the past 55 years, Evonik has invested over S$1.5 billion in Singapore, and it now employs over 700 employees.

a. Singapore is home to Evonik’s Asia-Pacific Regional Headquarters, its Asia Research Hub, and five manufacturing plants that produce useful chemicals such as oil additives, catalysts and methionine.

3. Today, I’m happy to see Evonik add a new milestone to its growth in Singapore through the opening of SIMEX, its expanded methionine complex.

a. SIMEX will expand the total capacity of the complex by more than 13 percent.

This move will strengthen the standing of Evonik’s methionine complex in Singapore as the largest methionine production facility in the world, with a market share of over 40 percent!

Growing our specialty and sustainable chemicals markets

4. SIMEX not only marks a new milestone in Evonik’s growth, but also signals the start of the next bound of growth for Singapore’s Energy & Chemicals industry.

From our days as an oil storage and distribution hub, we are now evolving to be an attractive global destination for specialty and sustainable chemicals.

This is largely owing to increasing demand for consumer and green products.

a. The growing population in Asia has been driving the rise of meat consumption.

This will in turn drive the demand for chemicals such as methionine, which is an important nutritional component of animal feed.

b. At the same time, the demand for green chemicals is also rising, buoyed by government policies on the use of sustainable materials and consumer choices for sustainable products.

5. As these trends continue, we welcome partnerships with companies like Evonik to seize growth opportunities in the demand for specialty and sustainable chemicals, particularly in fast-growing end markets such as nutrition and agriculture, care chemicals, pharmaceuticals and mobility.

Sustainable SIMEX, Sustainable Jurong Island

6. Even as we seek to pivot the industry towards these growth areas, our chemicals companies must grow sustainably.

This is why on our part, we launched the Sustainable Jurong Island strategy in 2021, which aims to catalyse this transition.

a. By 2030, we aim to increase the output of sustainable products in the Energy and Chemicals sector by 1.5 times from 2019 levels, and achieve at least two million tonnes of carbon abatement per annum through low carbon solutions.

b. As 2030 draws nearer, companies like Evonik will be crucial to help realise our ambition.

7. For over a decade now, Evonik has been a proponent of sustainability-by-design.

From early construction days in 2014, its methionine complex has incorporated corrosion-resistant materials.

This has enabled Evonik to utilise seawater for cooling, significantly reducing the need of taking up freshwater in its processes.

8. As part of its latest expansion, Evonik has also implemented significant energy efficiency projects to further reduce its utilities and raw material consumption.

These include measures to reduce natural gas usage as well as electricity consumption.

a. One notable example is the installation of a nine-megawatt alkaline electrolyser plant that is owned and operated by Evonik’s industry partner Linde.

I am glad to hear that Evonik is in the process of getting the electrolyser plant powered fully by green electrons.

This will allow Evonik to produce low-carbon hydrogen that can directly feed into its methionine production process.

b. Such renewable energy generation solutions are well aligned with Singapore’s net-zero ambitions.

9. I applaud Evonik’s sustainability efforts.

Taken together, they will help to reduce the carbon footprint of Evonik’s additional production volume by 50 percent.

I was told that this is largest amount of carbon abatement achieved from a single site in the industry in recent years.

Well done to the team!

Conclusion

10. In closing, I would like to thank Evonik for continuing to grow your sustainable manufacturing footprint here, and your trust and confidence in Singapore all these years.

Evonik’s sizeable investment in SIMEX is testament to the continued competitiveness and strategic importance of Singapore as a global specialty chemicals hub.

I look forward to a stronger and closer partnership between Evonik and Singapore for many more years ahead.

Additional remarks delivered by Minister Grace Fu

11. That was the end of my formal speech. If I may, allow me to say a few more words. I'm extremely happy to be here today and to hear some of the speeches ahead of me. I'm so inspired by your company. I'm inspired by a few reasons.

First, to see that you have achieved increase in capacity and at the same time, reducing your carbon footprint by a significant amount – I think that is a real achievement.

Secondly, in Singapore, you run the most cost effective, largest production capacity for this product – that speaks very largely of the ability of the company to rip the cost benefit of locating in Singapore. In Singapore, it is very unusual to hear that we are the most cost competitive. But therein lies the secret of realising the potential of Singapore. It is that stability. It is that continuity of business. The assurance that there is no power or water disruption, that supply chain will continue to move twenty-four by seven. That is the kind of operating environment that is suitable for companies like yours – where you need security, where you need continuity, and it is really for high capital businesses that will thrive and able to reap that cost benefit.

Congratulations to the team for doing just that – for having a two-year expansion plan that is done on time, within budget, and with no accidents. That speaks very well about the execution of the team, fully utilising the benefits of locating in Singapore, having things arrive on time, and cost kept to as promised by contractors. This is the kind of trust and reputation that Singapore companies have, and the Singapore Government has.

The third part that makes me most gratified is the fact that I am here as the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, in addition to my MTI portfolio, and to know that you are solving two of the most challenging wicked problems that the world has. The first is on climate change. Your engineering solutions impressed me, and I would like to commend you and encourage you to continue on that.

The second part is that you are also helping to resolve one of the biggest problems of humanity, and that is food – the need for food to feed a growing population. Agriculture and food production is both a cause of climate change, and at the same time, a victim of climate change. We need to unlock this nexus, and we need to show the world that there are solutions out there that allow us to grow more efficiently with lower carbon emission at the same time – unlocking the value and productivity of the agricultural sector, so that we can feed more people with good nutrition. These are two very important global wicked problems that we need the best brains in the world to help us resolve. And I see the light here in Evonik.

Congratulations again and thank you so much for having me.