CHICAGO — Archer Daniels Midland Co. earlier this week celebrated the opening of two plants in China, significantly increasing its capacity to serve growing regional demand for value-added food ingredients and animal-nutrition products.
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| Juan Luciano, c.e.o. of ADM. |
On Nov. 13, Juan Luciano, chief executive officer of ADM, joined government officials and representatives from Matsutani Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the northeastern coastal city of Tianjin, marking the opening of a plant to produce Fibersol soluble dietary fiber. Fibersol is sold and marketed through an ADM/Matsutani joint venture. The product enables food and beverage manufacturers to increase the fiber content of their products without impacting flavor, color or viscosity, according to ADM.
ADM said the global market for soluble dietary fiber is growing at an annual rate of 13%, and the Tianjin plant’s production capacity of 15,000 tonnes per year will help address food industry customers’ increasing demand.
“As more and more Chinese citizens enter the middle class, we expect that demand for Fibersol and other value-added food ingredients made by ADM will remain robust well into the future,” Mr. Luciano said.
On Nov. 12, Mr. Luciano stood alongside officials from the eastern city of Nanjing to mark the opening of a feed-premix plant in Nanjing. The facility, ADM’s third in the country, will manufacture nutritional premixes that may be added to animal rations to promote good health and optimal growth. ADM said it will manufacture an estimated 30,000 tonnes of premix products per year at the Nanjing facility. The company also owns premix production facilities in Tianjin and in Dalian, and a fourth is currently under construction in Zhangzhou.
“As China continues transitioning from a manufacturing-driven economy to a consumption-based economy, its middle class will continue to expand, and meat consumption will continue to grow,” Mr. Luciano said. “We therefore are confident that demand for the livestock feeds and feed ingredients we produce will continue to increase over the course of the next decade.”
ADM began operations in China in the mid-1990s, when the company acquired an animal feed premix plant in Dalian, in the country’s northeast. In recent years, ADM has grown to become one of the top exporters of agricultural products to Asia, and the company markets a range of food ingredients and animal feeds and feed premixes through its network of sales offices located throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
