Cargill Inc. has bought a soy plant in China's southern Guangdong province as the U.S. agribusiness giant aims for a 15 percent share of the country's oilseed market, the world's top soy importer.

Cargill had signed a contract to buy privately owned Yangjiang Fengyuan, which has daily capacity of 3,000-3,500 tonnes.

Cargill planned to resume operation of the plant early in 2007. It has been closed since mid-2005 after the company had run out of cash. The source gave no financial details.

Saddled with huge over-capacity, China's soy crushing industry has been going through a painful restructuring process since a crisis two years ago when many firms defaulted on payments of high-priced soy cargoes arriving from South America.

Noble Group, Asia's largest commodities trader, said it was paying about $18 million to buy two soy plants in China, trebling its daily crushing capacity to 7,800 tonnes in the country, the world's top soy importer.

In June, Cargill launched a 5,000-tonne-per-day crushing plant -- the country's single largest -- in Nantong in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, saying it hoped to take 15 percent of the oilseed market in China.

It was not immediately clear if Cargill had already succeeded in buying Nantong Baogang Oils Co. Ltd, a 1,600-tonne-per-day plant, which it had leased and said it would like to acquire.

Yangjiang Fengyuan adds to Cargill's other facilities, including two in the southern province of Guangdong. Including Baogang and excluding Fengyuan, Cargill owns crushing capacity of 11,500 tonnes a day.

Source:佚名