07/07/09 Cargill has opened its new animal feed mill in Efremov, Russia. The feed mill represents a further investment of US$12.5 million at the company's industrial complex, located 300 kilometres south of Moscow. The facility has the capacity to produce 250,000 metric tonnes per year of feed and, according to Cargill officials, will be a valuable addition to Cargill's network of Eastern European animal feed plants.

The feed mill forms part of Cargill's unique cluster of facilities at Efremov, which include corn and wheat sweeteners plants, a vegetable oil refinery, a bottling facility, and a malt plant. "The total integration of these manufacturing facilities at one site will benefit our new feed mill, as co-products from the other plants will be used to produce animal feed," said Andrew Glass, Cargill's country representative in Russia. He indicated that the new feed mill will produce nutritional feed and specialty, value-added ingredients that can be added to customers' existing animal feed.

"Cargill is committed to providing high quality and nutritious products, not only to the food industry, but also to the animal livestock industries," said Glass. "This latest investment reinforces our commitment to both the Tula region and to primary processing in Russia. We can now apply our global knowledge and expertise to the local feed industry, in the process keeping value within Russia. We are confident this feed mill will bring significant benefits for our customers in the dairy farming communities throughout Western Russia for many years to come."

The Efremov feed mill employs 40 locally-hired staff, including a specialist sales and marketing team.

In addition, Cargill will invest US$8.5 million in the construction of a premix facility as an extension to the feed mill. The new line is expected to be completed by summer 2010 and will have the capacity to produce 50,000 tonnes of premix and young animal feeds. The premix business will operate under the LNB brand in Russia. LNB, Cargill's global premix business, has been active in Russia since 2004.

"In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in meat protein production in Eastern Europe and we expect this to continue," concluded Malcolm Sayer, general manager of Cargill's animal nutrition business in Russia. "The addition of our production facilities in Efremov to the others we operate in Poland, Romania and Hungary demonstrates our commitment to both the animal nutrition industry and to the region. We are committed to growing our presence in the East European feed and premix industries."