Cargill is in talks to withdraw from its global sugar trading business. The agri-food powerhouse is now eyeing the potential sale of a 50 percent stake Alvean, a joint venture with Brazilian sugar giant Copersucar.
Following the pending divestiture, Cargill would pivot its focus toward its food processing and meat activities.
Both companies have declined to provide financial details on the proposed transaction, with the deadline of the divestment still uncertain.
“There has been no change in [Alvean’s] structure or how it serves its customers,” Paulo Mathias, service manager at Copersucar, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.
“The two shareholders have discussed an agreement where Copersucar will become the sole owner and acquire Cargill’s shares in Alvean,” he continues.
“If an agreement is reached, we will communicate appropriately.”
FoodIngredientsFirst has reached out to Cargill for additional comment.
Agri-food giants offload sugar assets
Alvean was formed in 2014 when parent companies Cargill and Copersucar decided to merge their global sugar trading activities.
Between 2019 and 2020, Alvean represented an estimated 20 percent of global sugar shipments.
Cargill’s targeted divestment comes after a similar announcement from Louis Dreyfus Co. last September, which targeted the sale of its Brazilian mills to Raízen, a sugar heavyweight of the South American market.
Cargill business highlights
Amid the tumultuous COVID-19 period, Cargill oversaw business global expansions that included the roll out of new alternative meat products and foray into new markets for chocolate.
Cargill is expanding its European lineup of plant-based solutions to include pea protein varieties, expanding beyond its active markets for these products in North America, Asia and South America.
Meanwhile, it has announced its private label plant-based patties and ground products will hit retailers and restaurants in the US by early April.
Last June, the supplier entered the chocolate business in India through the inauguration of its first chocolate manufacturing operation in the country.
by Benjamin Ferrer
Source: foodingredientsfirst.com
Free-from is becoming much more mainstream, moving beyond food allergens and intolerances. While it’s still vital to innovate products for lactose intolerance, gluten allergies and so forth, the umbrella term of free-from has taken on many different meanings.
Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI) is targeting infant formula, sports nutrition and medical nutrition with its new patented milk fractionation technology that separates milk proteins from whey, bypassing the need to make cheese. The Denmark-based company says this move enables scientists, nutritionists and health professionals to create “next-generation” dairy products.
Located in Ma’anshan, Anhui province, the facility has the potential to produce an estimated 150 million litres of oat-based products annually at full capacity. The opening comes just a few months after Oatly – which claims to have established a new Chinese character for ‘plant-based milk’ – inaugurated its first Asian factory in Singapore.
