June 27, 2011

Bunge starts production at soy crushing plant in Vietnam

Agricultural processor Bunge Ltd has begun production at its soy crushing plant in southern Vietnam, which would help reduce risk and costs for local feed importers.

Production began on May 8 at the US$100 million plant, which is designed to crush 1 million tonnes of soy a year, or more than 3,000 tonnes daily, to turn out 600 tonnes of crude-degummed soyoil and 2,500 tonnes of soymeal, Bunge said in a statement.

The plant's products will be sold in Vietnam and exported to Asian countries, Bunge said.

"The plant will reduce the financial pressure with exchange rate for Vietnamese buyers, cut the ratio of cargo loss during transportation while the quality of the freshly produced soymeal is higher at delivery," a soymeal trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.

Purchases made in the Vietnamese dong will help reduce the risk of exchange rate fluctuation, which happened in the latest case in February this year when Vietnam devalued its domestic currency by 8.5% against the dollar.

Construction of Bunge Vietnam plant started in December 2009 in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, 70 kilometres (43 miles) southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial centre.

The trader said supply from Bunge Vietnam would also help save time for importers, instead of waiting for a longer shipment time from India or South American nations such as Argentina.

Bunge has been the top supplier of imported feed ingredients to Vietnam's market since 2002.