Noble Group to build US$150 million soy crusher in Brazil

Commodity trader Noble Group will invest about US$150 million to build its first soy crushing plant in Brazil, according to reports on Tuesday (May 25).

The plant, to be located in Brazil's main soy state of Mato Grosso, and will be able to process 1.3 million tonnes of the legume per year, Ricardo Leiman, Noble's global chief executive, said.

Work will start at the beginning of 2011 at the latest, so that the plant can be operational in 2012, Leiman said.

The company is expanding operations in South America to fuel the Chinese market, which is a voracious consumer of commodities.

Earlier in April, the company also started a new Oilseed Processing Complex in Argentina, its first in a South American country.

The complex has a loading capacity of five million tonnes a year and a crushing capacity of three million tonnes of soy per year. The beans are processed into high protein soymeals, pellets and soyoil for export.

Meanwhile, the company announced on May 6 that its net income increased by 27.7% to US$115 million for the first quarter that ended March 31 from US$90 million on-year.