Feed International - November/December 2012 - 9
|7 year, which will make it the largest feed manufacturer in Russia. The company's current feed mills are in Ivnyanskom and Prokhorovka, which are located in the Belgorod region. The new mill will also be in Prokhorovka. In Luxembourg, Sodrugestvo Group S.A. also made news this past year when it signed an agreement with Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co. Ltd. to become strategic partners in some of its business activities, with Mitsui becoming a 10-percent shareholder of Sodrugestvo. Although the cost of the shares has not been disclosed, it has been noted that the transaction was based on an enterprise value of $2.2 billion for Sodrugestvo. According to information released by Sodrugestvo, the primary points of the partnership include an alliance in the origination, export and marketing of grain from Russia and other former Soviet Union countries; support for Mitsui's participation in the feed and livestock business in Russia; and a collaboration in the soybean origination, processing and distribution business in Brazil between Sodrugestvo's Alianca joint venture and Mitsui's Multigrain grain farming and logistics subsidiary. Aqua expansion in Egypt Coping with commodity prices is the largest hurdle that feed producers are facing at the close of 2012, no matter where they are located. November/December 2012 | WATTAgNet.com The Danish fish feed company Aller Aqua Group expanded its production outside of Europe for the first time this year by taking a 60 percent shareholding in Zoocontrol in Egypt. The re-named Aller Aqua Egypt intends to expand by building a second feed plant next to the existing Zoocontrol mill. Aller Aqua is a leader in feeds for freshwater fish in Europe with mills in Germany, Poland and Denmark. Until this year, the company exported products to other markets in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa. Other recent moves by Aller Aqua include establishing a sales office in China and developing a presence in Norway, Europe's largest single aquaculture market. Zoocontrol remains owned by its founders, the Mansour family. Building in the Philippines In March 2012, San Miguel Foods began construction of a new feed mill in Villanueva, Mindanao. San Miguel Foods is the largest Filipino-owned feed company in the Philippines and currently operates 41 feed mills in the country. The new mill is set to be operational by 2013 and will have a capacity of 60 metric tons per hour, which will make it the company's largest mill. According to Norman A. Ramos, vice president and general manager for San Miguel Foods, the new plant will give opportunities to local farmers who would be supplying 11,000 metric tons of corn and 5,000 metric tons of cassava each month. Cargill expansion in Vietnam Also in March 2012, Cargill Vietnam, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cargill Inc. USA, began construction of its ninth feed mill in Vietnam. The mill will have a production capacity of 240,000 metric tons per year and is slated to be operational in the latter half of 2013. The facility will bring the company's milling capacity to 1 million metric tons per year. Located in Dong Van II Industrial Zone in Ha Nam province, the company has invested $18 million to create the facility. Once operational, it is expected that its output will help the company increase its market share of animal feed in Vietnam to 10 percent. Investment in Thailand Thai agribusiness integrator Betagro Group announced earlier this year that it will be investing in feed production in neighboring countries with an eye to market growth expected from the establishment of the Asean Economic Community trading pact, set to launch in 2015. Betagro plans on investing EUR7.33 million in feed, food and livestock businesses over the next five years. One project Betagro has planned is a feed mill in Cambodia, which will be com-
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