ADM to build new sweetener and soluble-fibre manufacturing complex in China

US-based food-processing and commodities-trading company Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is set to construct a new sweetener and soluble-fibre manufacturing complex at the port of Tianjin in north China.

The facility has been approved by the Chinese government authorities.

The manufacturing complex will produce sweeteners and soluble fibre, which will be used to add dietary fibre to various food and beverage products.

The Tianjin complex is the company’s first wholly owned food-ingredient production facility in China.

ADM vice president and Asia-Pacific president Ismael Roig said the new complex will position the company to help meet the growing demand in China and Asia for high-quality food ingredients that can serve a wide variety of needs.

"Our Tianjin site’s favourable location near large urban demand centres – along with its proximity to rail and water transportation and ready access to feedstocks – will allow it to be seamlessly integrated into ADM’s global origination and transportation network, thereby enabling us to efficiently serve the needs of our valued customers in China and Asia," Roig added.

The sweetener facility is expected to be operational in early 2015, while the soluble fibre facility is likely to be operational in the second half of 2015.

ADM began operations in China in the mid-1990s, with the acquisition of an animal feed premix plant in Dalian.

Currently, the company supplies an extensive range of food ingredients and animal feeds and feed premixes throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

ADM, which has 270 processing plants and 470 crop procurement facilities, converts oilseeds, corn, wheat and cocoa into products for food, animal feed, industrial and energy uses.