Staring at a pile of freshly cut beechwood, forestry manager Johannes Brodowski wonders if he is looking at the future of Germany's chemicals industry.

A local factory will use Brodowski's trees and other organic material -- instead of climate-harming fossil fuels -- to make chemical products used to manufacture items ranging from packaging to car tyres and fleece jackets.

"The innovative part of the whole thing is that a new product is getting made," he told AFP: "Namely, chemical materials that were originally made from fossil fuels and now can be made from renewable sources."

Finnish group UPM Biochemicals unveiled its 1.3-billion-euro ($1.5-billion) biorefinery in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt this year, taking a big risk at a difficult time for the sector.

Germany's tradition

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