Ridho Syukra, Jakarta – American food and giant Cargill has invested $100 million in its Indonesian subsidiary Sorini Agro Asia Corporindo to expand a sweetener factory in Pandaan, East Java, the company said on Friday.
Cargill will build a corn wet mill factory and a starch dryer to meet growing customer demand for starch, sweeteners, and animal feed ingredients. The company aims to start the new factory's operation in 2022, Franck Monmont, the managing director of Cargill Starches, Sweeteners, and Texturizers (CSST) Asia, said in the statement.
Cargill's factory facility in Pandaan began operations in 1983 and currently imports starches like tapioca and corn and converts them into sweeteners, such as glucose, sorbitol, and maltodextrin.
With this expansion, Cargill will be able to continue producing existing sweetener products and add new products such as corn starch, corn gluten meal, corn gluten feed, and corn germ, the company said. Cargill supplies various customers from the East Java plant, including the candy, dairy, ready-to-cook, personal care products, and animal feed industries.
Monmont said the company's latest expansion also came in line with the government's efforts to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) to Indonesia. According to data from the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), only 3 percent of the FDI enters the agricultural sector.
In the last five years, Cargill has invested $800 million in Indonesia, providing jobs for 20,000 employees in 60 locations throughout the archipelago.