TEHUACAN, PUEBLA, MEXICO — As part of the celebrations for its 150th global anniversary and 50 years of operations in Mexico, Cargill Mexico inaugurated the expansion of its animal feed facility on Feb. 24.

The expansion is the result of a $7.8 million investment, said Gerardo Quintero, managing director of Cargill’s Feed & Nutrition business for Mexico and Central America.

At the event, which was attended by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishery and Feed, Enrique Martínez y Martínez; the Governor of the State of Puebla, Rafael Moreno Valle; Rudolf Lamprecht, president and chief executive officer of Regal Springs; Marcelo Martins, president of Cargill Mexico; Rob Heithoff, vice-president at Cargill Feed & Nutrition; and John Peppel, vice-president at Cargill Feed & Nutrition, among other important guests. Quintero explained the expansion consisted of a new extrusion line that will produce feed for tilapia, trout and catfish.

The extrusion process will increase the competitiveness of the facility by improving the performance, cost, and benefits of the feed, as well as its conversion ratio, Cargill said. These innovations will allow Cargill to increase the quality of the product it delivers to its client.

The new infrastructure will also strengthen the company’s capacity to serve the markets of Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Chiapas, and the Yucatán Peninsula, while increasing by 5,000 tonnes the monthly animal feed production capacity of the facility.

This new addition to Cargill’s productive infrastructure in Mexico is part of a $16 million investment plan to position the company’s animal nutrition solutions in the aquaculture markets of Mexico and Central America.

Quintero said, “This new investment endorses our confidence in Puebla, a State that has promoted the social and economic development, in which we have had the privilege of operate throughout 49 years.”

Marcelo Martins, president of Cargill Mexico, also endorsed the company’s commitment with the continuous development of the country’s agribusiness.

“Cargill will continue working hand to hand with authorities and producers, offering finance, risk management solutions, reliability in the purchase of crops and products, new international markets for the nation’s yields and products, as well as high quality and performance nutrition solutions, while collaborating in the selecting of the best products, with the support of our deep insight knowledge of the agribusiness markets,” he said.

Cargill’s facility in Tehuacán started operations in 1966. It currently employs 112 people. Nationwide, Cargill Mexico, which began its operations in 1965, employs over 1,700 people in 13 states, with 30 locations.