The global agri-food firm has been honing its Chinese flavour focus in recent years. In 2007 it opened a new flavour application laboratory in Shanghai. It also has a flavour facility and application centre in Bangalore, India, and an application centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The new facility, in Pinghu, is billed as another leg on which Cargill’s Asian presence is based, and brings the company closer to the market.
“This latest venture demonstrates our commitment to being a worldwide partner for our flavours customers as we now have one or more manufacturing sites in each regional market,” said Peter Michielsen, head of Cargill Flavor Systems.
“Crucially, the plant will enable us to react even faster to the needs of our customers, whether local Chinese manufacturers, or global customers with sites in China. It also strengthens our worldwide flavour network where local knowledge becomes global knowledge, especially in terms of sharing expertise or spotting the rise and fall of consumer trends.
At Pinghu, in particular, we will apply our knowledge in connecting raw materials with specialty ingredients such as flavours.”
The new site has been built on the same site as Cargill’s starches and sweeteners plant, which will make it easier for customers to source and develop products using multiple Cargill offerings at the same time.
The flavour raw materials which can be sourced from China include: lactones, pyrazines, mint oils and esters.
In addition, the company says that the enormous scope of its ingredients activities – including cocoa, juices, sweeteners, starches, and malt, slots into its flavour development. Michielsen said this allows it to offer “original and often unique taste solutions to… customers”.
Customers are expected to hail from both within China and outside, and to be driven by the quality assurances that a multinational player can provide.