East China methionine project to boost feed production

NANJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A liquid methionine project, with an annual output of 180,000 tonnes, was put into production in east China's Nanjing city, state-owned chemical giant Sinochem Holdings has announced.

The project, with an investment of about 4 billion yuan (about 577 million U.S. dollars), was the second phase of a liquid methionine factory of Bluestar Adisseo, a subsidiary of Sinochem Holdings.

With the previous project already in operation, the factory's production capacity has reached 350,000 tonnes annually, said the company.

Methionine is one of the essential amino acids for livestock and poultry, and is necessary for protein synthesis in the body. It can only be ingested from food and is mainly used as an animal feed additive.

The ever-growing feed industry in China offers a market for methionine. Data from the country's feed industry association showed that the total output of the country's animal feed industry had reached nearly 300 million tonnes in 2021.