SAO PAULO, Brazil — Cargill has announced plans to build a new corn processing plant in Brazil to produce starch and sweetener solutions.
The company will invest $350 million in the new plant, which will add 30 percent to Cargill’s existing corn crushing capacity in South America.
Facility location
The new facilities will be based in one of three Brazilian states under consideration. A decision on location is expected in the first quarter of this year, with the plant scheduled to start operating in 2013.
This is Cargill’s second investment in a little over two years. In March 2010, the company concluded an expansion that increased the capacity of the starches and sweeteners plant in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, by 70 percent.
The expansion of the Uberlandia facilities represented an investment of $197 million, which also included a new boiler to produce clean electric energy from biomass that supplies 70 percent of local energy needs.
Additionally, the new plant may also have a line dedicated to new corn-based ingredients, some that had previously not been available in the Brazilian market.
