NETHERLANDS — Global agricultural commodities trading company Louis Dreyfus Company BV (LDC) has created a new Food & Feed Solutions platform within its value chain segment to help it address the need for health and nature based products.
According to LDC, the platform will debut in January 2023 and will focus on developing and growing LDC’s presence in the lecithin, glycerin and specialty feed protein space, leveraging the company’s raw material origination and processing capabilities.
“Demand growth for ingredients of natural origin is accelerating, fueled by increasing use in functional foods, nutraceutical products, personal care products and other non-food and industry applications,” said Michael Gelchie, chief executive officer of LDC.
“As part of LDC’s strategic plans for revenue diversification through more value-added products, we see an opportunity to participate in this rapidly growing nature-based ingredients market.”
With its global asset network and market presence, LDC said it is well-placed to scale up its participation in the nature-based ingredients market, both through organic growth of production capacity and through targeted acquisitions and investments to diversify and expand the geographic scope of its portfolio.
The company recently opened its new soy liquid lecithin plant in Claypool, Indiana which has the capacity to crush 175,000 bushels of soybeans per day.
The facility integrates soybean processing, biodiesel production, and glycerin and lecithin refining operations, as well as a food-grade packaging line and canola oil distribution terminal.
The facility would align well with this strategy as it enables food manufacturers to obtain product attributes that customers increasingly desire for lecithin, a versatile emulsifier, dispersing agent, antioxidant and flavor enhancer that may be used in a variety of food applications.
“We expect the new Food & Feed Solutions platform to become a solid base for the execution of LDC’s strategy to diversify revenue streams by transforming or upcycling agri-commodity byproducts into value-added products and solutions,” said James Zhou, chief commercial officer of LDC. Zhou also will lead the new platform as head of Food & Feed Solutions.
“To achieve this, we will build on existing capabilities in the processing of oilseeds, oils and lipids ingredients and, eventually, other processing derivatives from LDC’s existing product portfolio.”
In its most recent earnings report, LDC said operating results for the value chain segment, which includes the grains and oilseeds platform, were $945 million, which compared with $525 million in the same period a year ago.
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