Cargill has announced its intent to grow and diversify its product portfolio at its starches and sweeteners plant in Krefeld (Germany) with products such as vegetable wheat protein, specialized industrial wheat starches and advanced bio-fuel. Transitioning this site from a corn to wheat processing facility, the company said, allows Cargill to add these products to its product portfolio and help customers address changing consumer needs in terms of nutrition, packaging and sustainable fuel.

Cargills corn processing facility at Krefeld produces starches and sweeteners from corn for a series of food, feed and industrial applications. As part of Cargills long-term strategy, the transformation to wheat will broaden Cargills product portfolio to address changing consumer needs such as an increasing demand for protein rich foods, rising need for paper & packaging solutions and renewable energy sources. The transformation is expected to be completed in 2020.

"Cargill wants to address the growing needs of its customers and the market - both in the Germany and across Europe - such as the increasing demand for vegetable proteins driven by a growing world population and the rising need for industrial starches used in packaging,” said Alain Dufait, Cargill Starches & Sweeteners Europe Managing Director. "In addition, we are exploring the opportunity to manufacture and offer our customers advanced bio-fuel produced from low-value streams.”

The new facility will be using the latest production technologies, allowing Cargill to further increase its plant reliability and to further improve its service to customers.

Menno Timmermans, Cargill Starches & Sweeteners Europe Krefeld site manager said: "This is an exciting time for us as the Krefeld facility will broaden its product offering to provide our customers with the right choice of qualitative and competitive wheat based products for food, feed & industrial applications to address a growing world populations need for protein rich foods, booming packaging industry due to growth in e-commerce and growing consumer sensitivity towards sustainable fuel alternatives.”