Buoyed by strong demand, Evonik to expand presence in chemicals sector

China is a major driving force of global economic growth and German specialty chemicals maker Evonik is looking to expand its footprint here, its top executive said.

"The Chinese industry is somewhat … like the red locomotive of the global economy in the global industry, which has also helped us in Europe to mitigate the impact of the crisis of the last (few) years," said Christian Kullmann, CEO of Evonik, during an interview with China Daily.

Of the 15.3 billion euros ($16.5 billion) in revenue that Evonik generated last year, about one-fifth came from Asia, and the China market contributed more than 40 percent of the Asia revenue.