Lonza to locate vitamin B3 plant in China
Swiss firm will invest CHF50m over the next three years
Swiss ingredients manufacturer Lonza has decided to locate its new vitamin B3 manufacturing site at Nansha, its leading high-tech life science plant in China.
The firm will invest CHF 50m (€35m; US$45m) over the next three years in the construction of a new nicotinate plant to help it meet growing market demand, fulfill long-term customer commitments and support and grow Lonza’s global leadership in vitamin B3. The new plant will serve the global and Chinese food, animal feed, pharmaceutical and cosmetic markets.
The Nansha facility will provide an additional 15,000 metric tons of product per year, increasing current capacity by more than 40%. The capacity will be added in phases, with the first phase expected to come on stream in 2011, followed by full operation in 2012.
‘The new facility underlines our commitment to be the global leader in the nicotinates business and to deliver the food, feed, cosmetic and pharma industry with high-quality vitamin B3 products,’ said Roman Quinter, senior vice president and head of Lonza’s Nutrition Ingredients business.
‘We will also take advantage of very promising innovations in technology and process development. These innovations will provide cost and efficiency advantages to all the company’s nicotinate facilities.’
Nicotinates, including both nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, are vitamin B3 supplements used in the food, animal feed and pharmaceutical industries.