Cargill invests $15 m for cattle supplements plant in Maharashtra

Global food major Cargill on Thursday said it has invested $15 million (about ₹100 crore) to set up a ‘high-pressure’ hydrogenation plant in Maharashtra (Kurkumbh) to manufacture health and nutrition supplement bypass fats for dairy cattle.

At a virtual briefing, Keerthy Pethaiyan, Regional Director, Cargill Bioindustrial, India, said, “This launch is in line with our ambitions of continuing to remain the leading supplier and trusted partners for feed millers and farmers in the country. We have made an investment of $15 million to set up this plant and it will have an annual capacity of 35,000 tonnes, making it one of the largest facilities to manufacture bypass fats and speciality waxes in the country.”

The company said the new plant will enable it to locally produce bypass fats under global brand, Carfe. The plant will also manufacture speciality vegetable oil-based waxes for industrial application, marketed under the brand Agri-Pure, which has applications in the tyre, plastic and candle industry.

“India has been the largest milk producer in the world for over two decades. However, milk productivity per animal is still low in comparison to the world average. Bypass fat is a source of energy for dairy animals and our product will help improve milk yield by 7-10 per cent, as well as the fat content,” he added. Cargill aims to capture a significant share of the market of bypass fat in India.

“India is a key growth market for Cargill... By building upon our operations at this facility, we will increase our regional footprint and enhance our local capabilities to better support the needs of our local customers as well as multi-national customers across the globe,” said Kurtis Miller, Global Managing Director, Industrial Segment, Cargill Bioindustrial, in a statement.

Cargill’s bioindustrial business has a leading presence in sustainable bio-based products including distilled fatty acids used by the paints, inks and coatings industry in the country. In 2016, Cargill set up a plant in Maharashtra at the same location to manufacture FR3 (natural ester dielectric fluid) which is used in transformers.

With 12 manufacturing plants across businesses, Cargill India has presence in categories such as refined oil, food ingredients, grain and oilseeds, cotton, animal nutrition, bioindustrial and trade structured finance.

COMMENT NOW