April 16 (Reuters) - German chemicals group Evonik

Industries on Tuesday reported preliminary

first-quarter core profit above market expectations, citing

higher sales volumes in its Specialty Additives and Nutrition &

Care divisions.

The company posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes,

depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 522 million euros

($554.05 million) in the quarter, beating by 16% the forecast of

analysts in a Vara Research poll of 450.4 million euros.

Evonik's chemicals are used in products from cars to animal

feed, as well as in Pfizer ( PFE ) and BioNTech's COVID vaccine.

The specialty chemicals maker also published Q1 sales of 3.8

billion euros, slightly below analysts' expectations of 3.9

billion, as lower raw material costs caused sales prices to

decline.

Evonik confirmed its outlook for the current year

released in March, when the company also announced plans to cut

around 2,000

jobs

worldwide by 2026.

Final results will be published as planned on May 8, the

company added.

($1 = 0.9422 euros)