SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – Cargill plans to build a corn processing plant in Brazil to produce starches and sweeteners solutions. Minneapolis-based Cargill will invest 350 million Brazilian reals ($210 million) on the plant, which will add to Cargill’s existing corn crushing capacity in South America by about 30%. The company will decide on a location for the plant later this year. The plant is scheduled to start operating in 2013.

“The partnership with our customers and rising domestic demand were key aspects that drove our investment,” said Gonzalo Petschen, leader of Cargill’s South American starches and sweeteners business. “Cargill’s global leadership team sees with great optimism the growth of business in Brazil.”

Cargill in March of 2010 finished an expansion that increased the capacity at a starches and sweeteners plant in Uberlandia, Minas, Brazil, by 70%. Cargill invested 197 million Brazilian reals ($118 million) in the expansion.