Chai Charoen Tapioca Flour Factory specialises in developing and producing native tapioca starches primarily for the food industry, and has 148 employees.

"This investment in Thailand will enable Cargill to better serve our customers in Asia with our full range of services along with the most complete product portfolio of any food ingredient player in the region," said Gerrit Hueting, president of the Cargill Starches and Sweeteners business unit in Asia. "It will also position us well for future growth in the region to better serve both the industrial and food markets in Asia."

"Our intention is to increase the capacity and add on modified food starches at this facility. These new capacities will be in addition to our already broad scope of food ingredients and food systems in Asia," Hueting said.

"Cargill's purchase of Chai Charoen Tapioca Flour Factory Co is good news for this region of Thailand. Cargill has the technological know-how to further develop the business as well as direct access to global markets," sad managing director Panya Lekvijitada. "This is also good news for the employees of Chai Charoen as Cargill has a well established reputation in Thailand. Cargill has planned additional investments that will lead to stronger growth of the business and provide more job security for the workers."

"Chai Charoen's starch is a top-of-the-line, quality product," said Raza Hasnain, Cargill's regional commercial manager. "We continually get requests from customers all around Asia who want reliable service and consistent quality tapioca starch. This facility positions Cargill extremely well to meet our Asia-Pacific customers' requirements."

Prasit Maekwatana, president of Cargill Thailand, said, "This is a good news not only for Cargill's regional customers but also for local Thai tapioca farmers. As we increase the capacity and product range of the plant, we will need to buy more tapioca from local farmers. Cargill has a lot of experience in working with Thai farmers through our existing businesses. We have helped Thai farmers increase crop productivity and grow healthier livestock through our fertiliser and animal feed business. We will partner with local Thai tapioca farmers by bringing them the latest training and best global practices to their farms."

Cargill's annual trade value with Thailand today exceeds US$530 million (Bt19.9 billion). The company sells animal-feed ingredients, grains, oilseeds, fruit juices and other commodities to Thailand while exporting cooked poultry products and Thai commodities such as maize, tapioca starch and sugar.

Cargill operates in five provinces in Thailand. Projects range from poultry operations in Saraburi and Nakhon Ratchasima to animal-feed production in Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Pathom, Chachoengsao and Pitsanulok. Cargill employs over 7,500 people in Thailand.