February 5, 2004

Cargill To Invest US$200 Million in Argentine Soy Plant

Cargill Inc. will invest US$200 million in building a new soy-processing plant and port in Argentina over the next two years, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

The agribusiness conglomerate is the leader in farm exports in Argentina, which is the world's No. 3 soy producer after the United States and Brazil and the world's top exporter of soyoil and soymeal.

The new plant will have a daily crushing capacity of 13,000 tonnes and will be located in Villa Gobernador Galvez, south of Rosario, Argentina's main grain exporting port. Cargill also plans to build a new port of its own, along with the plant.

The company already has a soy processing plant in the Rosario area, near Puerto San Martin, where it plans to increase crushing capacity to 10,000 tonnes per day from the current 9,500 tonnes.

"The investment will be US$20 million to increase the capacity of San Martin, US$20 million in fertilizer production and products derived from phosphates and nitrogen, and US$160 million in the new plant," a Cargill spokesman said. 

The world's top export and grain-processing companies operate in Argentina, among them Bunge Ltd., Louis Dreyfus & Co., Nidera and Argentina's Aceitera General Deheza.

Local company Molinos Rio de la Plata announced last month it plans to build a plant that would process 17,000 tonnes of soy per day, making it the largest such plant in Argentina.

Soy cultivation in Argentina has been rising each year and the crop is the country's top source of foreign currency. Farm exports overall dominate Argentina's sales abroad and provide critical tax revenues.

"These investments reflect the importance Cargill gives to Argentina's oilseed industry and to the role of our country ... in responding to growing world demand for food products," Hector Marsili, president of Argentina-based Cargill SA, said in a statement.