April 16 (Reuters) - German chemicals group Evonik

Industries on Tuesday reported preliminary

first-quarter core profit well 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 the 450.4 million

euros forecast by analysts in a Vara Research poll.

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

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

($1 = 0.9422 euros)