ECUADOR – American agribusiness Cargill and its partner Naturisa have agreed with Skyvest EC Holding to establish a new joint venture that aims to expand the production of shrimp feed in Ecuador.
Cargill partnered with a shrimp-farming company Naturisa in 2015 to build and operate a shrimp-feed manufacturing facility under the name Aquacargill del Ecuador.
“Since that time, the Ecuadorian shrimp farming industry has continued to grow, and there is a need to meet the increased demand for high-quality feed,” said Helene Ziv-Douki, president of Cargill’s aqua nutrition business.
Under the new joint venture, Cargill will expand its shrimp-feed production capabilities by taking ownership and operation of the shrimp-feed production facility currently owned by Skyvest subsidiary Empagran, which is located in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
The feed plant, which was built in 2018, currently has a production capacity of 156,000 tonnes and employs more than 200 people.
Angel Gomez, managing director of Cargill’s aqua nutrition business in northern Latin America, noted that the facility will nearly double Cargill’s production capacity, and improve the capacity to serve its customers and partners.
He also added the company has plans to invest in this facility and expanding its offering of shrimp feeds under Cargill’s Aquaxcel brand to meet the increasing demand for feed among customers.
Francisco Sola, Naturism president said: “Our joint venture with Cargill has been a big success and a driver of growth for both organizations. We have established an excellent working relationship and we are excited to participate in this expansion to increase our production capacity of high-performance feed that will continue supporting the growth of the Ecuadorian shrimp industry.”
Having opened the world’s most modern shrimp feed plant in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 2018, proof of immense technical know-how and expertise in the segment, Victor Ernesto Estrada Santistevan, owner of Skyvest was excited that Cargill will bring its operational expertise and its deep knowledge of global supply chains and risk management to run this facility.
Additionally, he stated that Cargill will improve feed quality, and their willingness to invest in the plant will bring more high-quality feed to the market.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota-based global food corporation has elected former IBM chairman, chief executive officer, and president Virginia (Ginni) M. Rometty to its board of directors.
Dave MacLennan, chair and CEO of Cargill, said Ginni led the reinvention of IBM for the era of cloud and data, by realigning their portfolio through organic and acquired growth.
Through these efforts, she has become a leading voice on technology ethics, business transformation, and the workplace of the future.
MacLennan was confident that Ginni will bring her expertise and vision for purpose-driven corporations to Cargill.
Currently, Ginni also serves as co-chair of OneTen, an organization that aims to upskill and promote 1 million Black Americans over the next decade, and is on the board of trustees for Northwestern University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Brookings Institute.
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