Evonik Vland Biotech joint venture commences operations

Essen, Germany. The newly founded joint venture Evonik Vland Biotech, based in Binzhou, China, commenced operations on January 1, 2024. The two parent companies, Evonik China and Shandong Vland Biotech, want to jointly expand the market presence of their products, such as probiotics for the gut health of livestock in the Greater China region, and develop new products and solutions. The joint venture was officially opened in Qingdao on March 14.

The partnership with Vland is an essential part of Evonik's strategy to provide the feed industry with biosolutions such as probiotics for animal gut health. “Vland and Evonik have been partnering for nearly 10 years. Through this relationship, we have created a strong foundation on which we can build”, said Johann-Caspar Gammelin, head of Evonik's Nutrition & Care division, which includes the Animal Nutrition business.

Evonik's biotech platform focuses on the development of biosolutions that enable a healthy life for all. This includes innovations at the interface between chemistry, biotechnology, pharmacology and data science, with which the company is opening up new horizons. One example of this is skin applications, which can complement the current activities in Evonik's Care Solutions portfolio.

“Over the past decade, Vland and Evonik have been continuously broadened the scope of our cooperation and deepened our partnership,” said Arron Chen, Chairman and President of the Vland Group. “With the joint venture now fully operational, we are poised to capitalize on our expertise on the animal gut health and deliver effective and efficient products and solutions for our customers in China and worldwide.”

The joint venture is based at the Vland Biotech Park in Qingdao and uses Vland's production facilities in Huimin. It positions itself as an innovative solution provider with a focus on customer proximity, quality and speed.

"Based on the strong innovation capabilities, application technology know-how and excellent reputation of both parent companies, Evonik Vland Biotech will bring innovative products and solutions to the market, always focusing on the value proposition for our customers," said Dr. Xu Wang, General Manager of the joint venture.

Under the agreement with Vland, Evonik will also distribute the joint venture's portfolio outside the Greater China region. The joint venture thus complements Evonik's gut health portfolio with new components for formulated products and enables new solutions for gut health.

Gut health solutions form the core of the specialty business of Evonik's Animal Nutrition business line. Probiotics such as Ecobiol®, Fecinor®, GutPlus® and GutCare® are currently the main products in the gut health portfolio. Probiotics consist of live microorganisms that are added to animal feed to maintain or restore the microbial balance in the gut, thereby increasing the animal's resilience.

Evonik China Co., Ltd. and Shandong Vland Biotech Co., Ltd. announced their intention to establish a joint venture in October 2023. Evonik is the majority shareholder of Evonik Vland Biotech (Shandong) Co., Ltd. with 55 percent of the shares.