Beijing, Sept 28 - COFCO Corporation, China's largest grain trader and processor, will double its investment in the resource-rich Xinjiang region in the northwest, the company said in a statement.
"COFCO will double its investment in Xinjiang in the coming three to five years based on current investments and will continue to expand investment areas and production scale," said the company.
It did not say which areas the extra investment would go to.
COFCO has invested a total of 5 billion yuan ($732.5 million) in the region in food processing, mainly with listed arm COFCO Xinjiang Tunhe Co. Ltd.
COFCO has production facilities covering grains, edible oils and juice and recently invested in the country's leading dairy producer, Mengniu Dairy.
Company chairman Ning Gaoning said last week that China's dairy consumption was only 10 percent of that in developed markets, and therefore there was big potential for growth of dairy products.
The company also aims to expand sales of its products at domestic supermarkets to account for 3 to 5 percent of its sales, up from 1 percent. Last month it set up a website for online sales of its products.
COFCO also owns China Food Limited, China Agri-Industries Holdings Ltd and COFCO Property Co. Ltd.