Global agribusiness giant Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) is building a soybean processing plant in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
The facility will offer integrated crushing, vegetable oil refining and lecithin production and packaging capabilities, the company said Oct. 20.
“This development will further strengthen LDC’s core marketing capabilities with additional capacity to source and process U.S. soybeans into value-added products – in this case, edible oils and lecithin,” said LDC CEO Michael Gelchie.
LDC said the new factory would also give it the option to enter the renewable energy feedstock market to help meet growing demand for biofuels. Additionally, reflecting our long-term commitment to North America as a key market for LDC, both in terms of origination and distribution, this new facility will leverage LDC's existing regional logistics network and synergies with our other integrated oilseed processing facilities in the region, as a result of which construction will begin early next year.
The new facility will have a soybean crushing capacity of 1.5 million tons/year. It will also produce 320,000 tons/year of edible soybean oil (RBD) and 7,500 tons/year of lecithin. Therefore, the company is taking significant steps to expand its operations in North America and diversify its products.
LDC has expanded its crushing, biodiesel refining and glycerin and lecithin production complex in Claypool, Indiana, USA. Additionally, it is in the process of expanding its canola processing plant in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Source: Oils & Fats International
