Global grain merchants, Archer Daniels Midland Company and Cargill Inc have on Monday finalised their agreement to formally launch a new joint venture to provide soybean meal and oil for customers in Egypt. The two companies agreed last February to form a soybean joint venture in Egypt to take advantage of strong demand for edible oil and livestock feed. The new joint venture, SoyVen owns and operates the National Vegetable Oil Company soy crush facility in Borg Al-Arab, along with related commercial and functional activities, including a separate Switzerland-based entity supplying soybeans to the Egypt crush plant. The plant's daily crush capacity has been doubled to 6,000 metric tonnes in order to meet increasing Egyptian demand for higher-protein soybean meal and for oil, reducing the need for imports. The new company, which will function as an independent entity, is headed by chief executive Ahmet Ertürk, who previously held global management positions in Cargill's malt and grains and oilseeds businesses. "By bringing together the strengths and capabilities of both Cargill and ADM in Egypt, this joint venture is uniquely positioned to meet specific customer needs in the growing Egyptian market", said Ertürk. "The demand for high-quality soybean meal and for oil from both the food manufacturing and animal feed sectors continues to rise and I'm confident customers will turn to SoyVen as the premier provider in Egypt." "Egypt is an important market where demand for high-quality soybean meal and oil is outpacing the rest of the world," John Grossmann, ADM's president, EMEA oilseeds crush, said in a statement last February. The joint venture consists of ADM and Cargill each holding a 50 percent interest, with the management team reporting to a board of directors appointed by the two parent companies. The joint venture's assets do not include Cargill's grain business and port terminal in Dekheila, or the ADM-Medsofts joint venture at the Port of Alexandria. Each company will continue its separate business activities in the country and region. SoyVen will have offices and operations in Cairo and Borg Al-Arab in Egypt, as well as offices in Rolle, Switzerland.
