The new facility allows DSM to serve a larger geographical area in China. This enables the company to capitalize on opportunities that arise from the rapidly growing animal nutrition & health industry in one of the key growth countries for DSM.

The new plant is located in the Hengyang High-tech Zone in the Hunan Province. It will provide DSM-customers in the provinces of Hunan, Guangdon, Guangxi, Fujian and Jiangxi with feed premix under the brand name Rovimix®.

"This investment is fully in line with DSM's Vision 2010 strategy which, among others, aims at further, sustainable growth in emerging economies," commented Antonio Ruy Viana Freire, President of Animal Nutrition & Health. "As a very important link in the food chain, premix is of great importance in ensuring food safety and nutrition. The new facility broadens our market coverage in the Chinese feed market and enables more of our existing and new customers, especially those located in the middle and southern regions of the country, to benefit from our products. Targeting China's large market, we will continue to strengthen our footprint and to accelerate the development of the animal nutrition & health industry in China."

DSM opened its first Chinese premix plant in 1997 in the Shanghai area. In 2006, the second premix plant was opened in the Shandong province. The fourth plant is expected to open next year in the Jilin province. Currently options for further expansion into Western China are investigated, with the intention to be operational by 2010.

China is already accounting for a quarter of global meat consumption, a share that is expected to further grow at an accelerated pace. Global meat consumption is expected to rise by 20% by 2015, growth which is mainly coming from China.

"The animal nutrition & health industry in China continues to develop rapidly, and it is an honour for DSM to take part in this development and to act as a leader in promoting it. This investment is a significant contribution to the target of US$ 1.5 billion in sales in China by 2010 in this strategic emerging market," DSM's China President Jiang Weiming stated at the official opening. "Meanwhile, we will make sure the new plant, like DSM's other plants, strictly adheres to our state-of-the-art global standards."