Cargill expands oilseed-crush capacity at 3 plants in Australia

Photo: Cargill Inc.

Cargill announced April 26 an investment of AUD$73 million (USD$50 million) to upgrade and expand its Newcastle, Narrabri and Footscray oilseed-crush facilities in Australia.

This investment will help Cargill cater to the rising demand from customers for canola and cottonseed products and provide Australian farmers with further access to global markets.

Australian canola is in high demand globally for its use across food products and feedstock markets for biobased diesel fuels.

With canola production on the rise, Cargill, a key supplier of high-grade canola oil to customers in Australia and Asia, is investing to expand its crush capacity and increase production of canola oil and meal as well as cottonseed oil and meal.

This includes an upgrade and restart of Cargill’s Narrabri plant, which has been modified into a dedicated cottonseed-dehulling plant.

The hulls from Narrabri will cater to domestic feedstock markets and cottonseed meats will be transported to Newcastle where they will be further processed into oil and meal.

Cargill's plant in Newcastle, New South Wales, is also being upgraded to enable the crush of cottonseed, along with existing processing capacity of canola.

This will significantly increase the plant’s total crush capacity.

Other plant upgrades include improvements in oilseed-processing equipment to serve the increased throughput and the cottonseed-meal product, higher transport efficiencies and improving the farmers’ delivery experience.

Additionally, Cargill’s Footscray plant will also see an increase in canola-crush capacity with upgrades to the processing equipment and some modifications to drive logistical efficiencies and better, more efficient customer experience.

“Cargill plays a major role in connecting farmers and customers to the food and ingredients they need,” said Zsolt Kocza, managing director of Cargill in Australia. “This investment in increasing our crush capacity will help Cargill better serve the growing demand for canola and cottonseed products from customers both in Australia and across Asia. It will also connect Australian farmers to international markets, creating more demand for locally grown canola.”

The major export destinations for canola oil are China, Vietnam and New Zealand.

With this investment, Cargill also expects to be able to supply new domestic customers with cottonseed hulls and oil.

This investment will support almost 100 jobs—89 existing and five new positions—across the three facilities.

Cargill established its presence in Australia in 1967 and has continued to grow and invest in the Australian agriculture and food industry since.

Cargill is a major marketer of Australian grain and oilseeds, supplying its crush plants as well as domestic and international customers in the food-processing, animal-feed and meat industries.

Cargill Australia processes canola at its crush plants in Australia producing protein meal and vegetable oils.

Cargill Australia also provides a range of differentiated price risk management and logistical solutions.