BEIJING, CHINA — Agriculture technology company Origin Agritech Ltd. is building an innovative 100,000-tonne corn drying base in Shihezi, Xinjiang, China, where one of the company’s Nutritionally Enhanced Corn (NEC) plantation bases is located. 

The project is led by the company's joint venture, Baodao Origin Agritech and Livestock Co. Ltd. The venture, bolstered by an investment of $11.1 million provided by Origin's joint venture partner and supported by regional financial institutions, will strengthen Origin's NEC supply chain.

The state-of-the-art facility, which held a groundbreaking ceremony on July 12, will include a drying base, a storage base and supporting facilities. The drying base will have the capacity to process 1,200 tonnes daily, while the storage base will be able to hold up to 50,000 tonnes of produce. The facility is expected to be ready by mid-September to meet the production needs for the upcoming 2023 harvest season.

“With our revolutionary Nutritionally Enhanced Corn, we’re reshaping the agricultural industry,” said Guangju Wang, head of NEC Corn Business and general manager of Baodao Origin. “This unique corn variety allows hogs to thrive without expensive soybean meal supplementation, thereby doubling profit margins for feedstock companies. Consequently, the resulting high demand for NEC has allowed us to expand from a $4.4 billion corn seed market to a $83.2 billion corn feedstock market. This leap enlarges our market opportunity by nearly 20-fold, emphasizing the immense potential for Origin within the corn supply chain.”

Chunying Kang, county mayor of 149th Regiment County, Shihezi, Xinjiang, said the region’s agricultural sector will benefit from the modernization investment by the joint venture.

“Their pioneering efforts to establish a modern corn drying and silo facility are truly transformative,” he said. “This facility is set to drastically reduce the risk of catastrophic losses, which have unfortunately become more frequent with traditional sun drying methods, particularly in the face of climate change and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns."