Louis Dreyfus Company, a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods operating in over 100 countries, has finalized the acquisition of an oilseeds processing  facility in Tianjin, China. The new asset will enhance LDC’s capability to meet the growing demand for protein in China.

Louis Dreyfus Company announced the completion of its acquisition of Sinarmas Natural Resources Foodstuff Technology (Tianjin) Co., Ltd, which owns and operates oilseeds crushing and refining facilities in the Lingang Economic Area within Tianjin’s Binghai New Area district. Spanning a land area of some 300,000 m2, the newly acquired asset has a daily soybean crushing capacity of 4,000 tons for the production of soybean meal and crude soybean oil, and a daily refining capacity of 1,200 tons for the production of refined edible vegetable oil. The transaction, which was agreed in November 2017 but remained subject to standard conditions, reflects LDC’s confidence in China’s agricultural processing sector. The company is a major supplier of soybeans to the domestic crush industry, and currently operates three soybean crushing facilities in Hebei, Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces, supplying soybean meal to major and local feed mill groups as well as edible oils for food companies. Gonzalo Ramírez Martiarena, Chief Executive Officer of Louis Dreyfus Company, commented, “China is a vital market for global agricultural trade and integral to LDC’s long-term growth ambitions. This latest acquisition is a positive response to the Chinese government’s encouragement for more foreign direct investment in the agricultural processing sector, and fully aligned with our corporate strategy of strengthening our presence in major destination markets.”