(Yicai) April 16 -- Co-operation between the Chinese and German governments benefits both sides, said the chief executive officer of Covestro yesterday during a visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the German polymer materials maker’s Asia-Pacific Innovation Center in Shanghai.

“Our decades-long presence in China epitomizes the spirit of collaboration between China and Germany, which has greatly benefitted both sides,” said Markus Steilemann as he explained the company’s initiatives and investments in China to the delegation during a 45-minute visit.

“Companies cannot succeed in any market without support from the government. Therefore, we count on the support of both governments in further promoting opening-up and mutual trust,” added Steilemann, who is also chairman of the German Chemical Society.

“Covestro remains deeply committed to China. We continuously strive to foster strong partnerships across the entire value chain,” said Holly Lei, president of Covestro China. "China is a large and extremely important market for us, so we have a lot of representative cases and highlights in the country.”

China is one of Covestro’s biggest markets, with sales accounting for over 20 percent of the Leverkusen-based company’s total investments at more than EUR4 billion (USD4.2 billion) last year.

Shanghai is home to the firm’s regional headquarters, its Asia-Pacific innovation hub, the global headquarters of its Business Entity Engineering Plastics, Covestro Integrated Site, the company’s largest production site, as well as the regional headquarters of many other businesses.

“As a German company, we seek mutual collaborations with Chinese partners under a reasonable global layout,” Lei said. “By advocating a circular economy and striving for climate neutrality, we support key industries and the country in their green transformation and high-quality development.”

Covestro’s vision and most of its practices are consistent with China’s high-quality development and carbon neutrality and peaking goals, Lei said. For example, China needs sustainable solutions in terms of building new productivity and improving industrial capacity, which means that there is a huge opportunity for our expertise in materials.”

As a global business, Covestro is aware that the expansion of the market and the development of innovative technologies need to go hand in hand.

“There are instances, for example, where the technologies are developed in Germany but applied in China,” Lei said. “Our first mechanical recycling plant has been put into operation in China, and the chemical recycling technologies in China’s recycling ecosystem are also quickly taking form.”

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor