THE Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), a Decatur, Illinois-based food processing and commodities trading corporation, will build a food processing and logistics facility in Tianjin's Binhai New Area, Xinhua reports.

The facility has capacity of 1 million tonnes and is to be completed by the end of 2013. The first phase costs CNY1.9 billion (US$304.68 million) and will cover 490,000 square metres, including a syrup-making plant that will be able to produce 1 million tonnes of syrup per year.

 Tianjin was the world's fourth largest port in terms of tonnage last year. Its convenience in shipping is attracting more grain processors and oil manufacturers from home and abroad to set up plants in the Binhai New Area, an industrial zone of the city. The grain industrial parks in Tianjin has totalled to 4.6 square metres with a collective investment of more than CNY20 billion.

 According to the development plan of the harbour-front industrial area in the Binhai New Area, a large grain and oil manufacturing and processing cluster with annual production value of CNY100 billion will be built up by 2015, making the area the largest grain and oil production base in northern China, able to cater the food demand of 200 million people.

 ADM operates 270 plants worldwide where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide, said the Wikipedia entry.

(Source:world maritime news)