Cargill will invest US$112 million to expand the capacity of its corn processing facility in Songyuan, Jilin province, China.
This is part of its joint initiative with Songyuan government to build the Sino-U.S. Cargill Biotech Industrial Park, featuring the Cargill Food Safety and Technology Center. Cargill will continue to invest in the park in the coming years. The move is expected to help boost local economy and strengthens local corn processing industry.
“Cargill has made significant investments in Songyuan, which is welcomed by us,” said Wang Zilian, mayor of Songyuan Municipal Government. “I believe the new investment and projects will help boost the prosperity of local farmers and also benefit the growth of local corn processing industry.”
The park, which occupies 3.71 million square meters, is designed to facilitate corn processing and trading, with a processing capability of up to two million tons per year by 2020. Future warehouses will be built for commodities such as corn and starches.
As one of the most important facilities in the park, the Cargill Food Safety and Technology Center will focus on testing, research and training in the area of food safety, as well as process improvement and product development for the corn processing and food ingredients industries.
“China is crucial market with amazing vitality. We will continue to work as partners with China to build sustainable agriculture and invest in rural areas,” said Dave MacLennan, Cargill chairman and CEO, at the foundation laying ceremony for Cargill Food Safety and Technology Center.
Ongoing commitments to China
The Jilin Province investment further demonstrates Cargill’s growing commitment to long-term investments in China. Recently, the company announced a US$40 million investment in Yichun, Jiangxi Province, to build an animal nutrition plant with annual production capacity of 120,000 tons of premix and 60,000 tons per year of specialty animal feed.
Since it started investment in mainland China in the 1980s, the company has invested around US$7.5 billion.
