Ingredion Plans Major Investments in Asia-Pacific
Ingredion has announced USD60m of planned investments to grow its specialty food ingredients business in Asia-Pacific. Beginning earlier this year, the company commenced expansion of its modified and clean-label specialty starch capabilities in tapioca, waxy corn, and rice.
The specialty capital investment projects include a 20% expansion of its tapioca modified food starch capacity in Thailand along with state-of-the-art upgrades to its wastewater treatment facilities. It will also more than double the capacity and increase the regulatory standards of its specialty rice starch and rice flour business in Thailand, acquired in 2017. In addition, the investment will see the completion of a 30% expansion of the company’s modified food starch capacity and further improving its corn wet milling capacity in China.
“These strategic investments are designed to accelerate our growth and strengthen our manufacturing network in Asia to meet increased consumer demand,” said Jim Zallie, Ingredion president and chief executive officer. “Growing our global specialties business to USD2bn in annual sales by 2022 is an integral part of our strategy to deliver long-term profitable growth and enhance shareholder value.”
Valdirene Licht, Ingredion senior vice president and president, Asia-Pacific, added that the company sees growing demand for both clean-label ingredients and specialty starch-based texturizers throughout the region. “The investments will allow us to continue to evolve with our customers to provide innovative, on-trend solutions. Our local team has extensive applications and formulating expertise combined with the broadest and deepest portfolio of waxy corn and tapioca based specialty starches and a successful track record of supporting customers in the region for more than three decades. We’re now excited to be building our on-trend rice ingredient business and we will continue to make further investments in Asia that benefit our customers globally,” Licht commented.
Ingredion operates four manufacturing facilities in Thailand and three manufacturing facilities in China.