August 15, 2011

China's leading food processing company COFCO Ltd started operation on the first phase of its grain and oils processing base in north China's Tianjin Friday (Aug 12).

COFCO Tianjin project is to build a key grain and oil processing base that integrates logistics, storage and processing.

The project, with a total investment of RMB4 billion (US$623 million), is planned to have processing capacity of six million tonnes and storage capacity of 600,000 tonnes.

The production base will supply 2.3 million tonnes of vegetable protein and 900,000 tonnes of edible oil products annually to north China. It will become one of the largest grain and oil processing bases in China after it is completed.

The first phase of the project, which includes a port, a silo, an oil tank, an oil processing plant and other facilities, is expected to produce 1.02 million tonnes of meal and 240,000 tonnes of edible oil per year. The second phase, to be put into operation in October this year, will include fat processing facilities and oil tanks.

It is estimated by 2015, the 4.6-sq-km industrial park in Tianjin Binhai New Area will produce a yearly output of pressed oil and essential oil that will reach 10 million  tonnes and four million tonnes respectively, while over 10,000 tonnes of cooking oil will be produced each day. The project will allow COFCO to set a new annual-processing record of 10 million tonnes of cooking oil, said COFCO Chairman Frank Ning.