Aart Mateboer, business unit director, animal nutrition, DuPont, said the new facility will produce customized blends for the Chinese animal nutrition market, improving the flexibility of the company’s offer.
He said the new facility would allow DuPont to launch new products out of its global R&D pipeline to support the evolving needs of customers in China. The company’s animal nutrition related portfolio consists of feed enzymes, betaine, phytogenics and probiotics.
Another major feed player with operations in Wuxi is BioMar. May this year saw the BioMar/Tongwei JV plant in Wuxi producing aqua feeds go live. The company said the quality standards at the new facility enable the transfer of the production of high-end aqua feeds for China that were previously produced in Denmark, said BioMar.
In terms of why Wuxi was chosen, Mateboer told us the location is ideal as it is close to Shanghai.
“DuPont already produces enzymes in Wuxi. Expanding in Wuxi allows us to leverage our existing world class capabilities at the Wuxi site.”
DuPont has no other manufacturing facilities for its animal nutrition portfolio in China.
“We were supplying the Chinese market from our EU and US facilities. With our new facility in China, we can respond much faster to changing customer demands.
“We do have an applications and technical service laboratory in Shanghai where we analyze feed samples received from customers in order to recommend the optimal enzyme combination or to confirm enzyme recovery after the pelleting process, which is part of our customer focused approach.”
DuPont, though, has been producing enzymes in China for quite some time already. It sees no see no significant challenges in terms of manufacturing in that market, said Mateboer.
Local trials
Asked whether DuPont will carry out local trials of its products in the region, he said:
“Yes, since some of the producer challenges are very common across the region – the AGP free drive, African Swine Fever (ASF) issues, by-product availability.
“Most of the companies are looking for solutions for these challenges and local or tailored products can help them meet these requirements.”
DuPont flagged how it is focused on science and innovation aimed at helping producers improve animal performance, increase animal liveability and support animal welfare in the face of growing pressure to reduce or remove antibiotics from production systems. In that context, it noted its trial work, including over 80,000 guts sampled from over 500 farms, its investments in omics technologies and microbiome research, and ongoing collaboration with commercial, governmental and academic partners.
