Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Bunge Ltd enters into joint venture with Estron Corporation to build oilseed crushing plant in the port of Ilyichevsk
Bunge Limited - an integrated, global agribusiness and food company - announced Monday that its European operating arm, Bunge Europe, had entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Estron Corporation to build an oilseed crushing plant in the port of Ilyichevsk, Ukraine. The new plant is adjacent to the grain export terminal owned by Estron Corporation.
The plant's projected crushing capacity is 600,000 tons per year, and it is expected to be operational in early 2005. The plant, as a client of the terminal, will have access to the terminal's expanded capacity of 240,000 tons of storage space with two panamax vessel loaders.
"Bunge's strategy is to be the leading agribusiness and food company in the higher growth markets. This investment reflects the confidence of the joint venture partners in the long-term agricultural potential of the Ukraine," said Jean-Louis Gourbin, CEO of Bunge Europe. "The port of Ilyichevsk is ideally suited as a logistics gateway to service and supply the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and Near East vegetable protein and oil markets," noted a spokesperson for Estron Corporation.
The grain terminal will benefit from additional turnover tonnage, combined with its long-standing, high-quality client mix. The products from the new plant will be marketed by Bunge, leveraging its global customer base. Sunseed and other oilseeds for processing will be originated locally by Suntrade, Bunge's Ukrainian origination company, which has been active in the region since 1998.
Bunge Limited (http://www.bunge.com) is an integrated, global agribusiness and food company operating in the farm-to-consumer food chain. Founded in 1818 and headquartered in White Plains, New York, Bunge has 23,000 employees and locations in 30 countries. Bunge is the world's leading oilseed processing company, the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers to farmers in South America and the world's leading seller of bottled vegetable oils to consumers.
The news was distributed by The Action Ukraine Report Information Service (ARTUIS) Washington, D.C., Monday, May 17, 2004, www.ArtUkraine.com
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher
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