Beijing, April 29 - China's largest state-owned grain trading firm, COFCO Co. Ltd, has begun building grain and edible oil storage facilities in the northern port city of Tianjin, the Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.
It said the initial stage of the complex will include a 220,000-tonne storage facility, oilseed crushing facilities, a berth and a railway line, with a total investment of 4 billion yuan ($586.1 million).
COFCO is the parent of China Agri-Industries Holdings . Its vice president, Andy Li, told Reuters last year that it will build a new soy plant in Tianjin with initial capacity of 1.2 million tonnes a year.
The Xinhua said Tianjin complex, with annual oilseed processing capacity totalling 6 million tonnes, will increase COFCO's oilseed crushing capacity to 15 million tonnes from more than 8 million tonnes currently.
COFCO has 12 oilseed crushing plants in the country, Xinhua said. China Agri also runs three joint venture oilseed plants with Singapore's Wilmar International. Combined with its own plants, Wilmar has the largest oilseed capacity in China.