US agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland has said it plans to increase its food processing capacity in China to meet the rise in demand for protein-based foods and vegetable oils.


ADM first entered the food processing business in China five years ago and now the country accounts for a quarter of the company’s global food processing capacity, reported The Financial Times. ADM now operates ten food plants in China, located near ports.


“We’re in discussions about moving into the interior with groundnut processing plants; we’ll be building more factories. There’s an enormous need for proteins and vegetable oils and it’s growing at a very solid pace,” Allen Andreas, chairman and CEO, was quoted by FT.com as saying.