DuPont Purchases Food Company in HubeiDuPont, a leading international science company, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired the Longyun Protein Food Group, in Central China's Hubei Province, as part of its efforts to expand its soy protein business in Asia.According to Erik Fyrwald, DuPont's vice-president, the company will spend about US$20 million on the deal. The project, which will be DuPont's first food and nutrition company in China, plans to produce 5,000 tons of soy protein a year, Fyrwald said. Soy protein is a popular nutritional ingredient in foodstuff around the world. "This acquisition realizes our local production of soy protein and will reinforce our strategy to increase the availability of good-tasting, healthy and convenient products for global consumers," he said. DuPont began selling soy protein products in China in 1992. The bulk of the project's products will be exported to meet mounting demand from the world market, he said. DuPont estimates the current world food ingredient market, which is valued at US$20 billion, will grow by 3 to 5 per cent a year. The food and agricultural sector is DuPon't second biggest and fastest-growing business division. Last year, sales in the division exceeded US$5 billion. In the past 15 years, DuPont has invested more than US$5 billion in 15 joint ventures and wholly owned companies covering chemical and fibre production in China. DuPont, one of the world's top 500 multinationals, reported a total turnover of US$1.6 billion last year in China, including the Hong Kong Special Administration Region and Taiwan Province. |
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