ASIA – Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global provider of ingredient solutions, today announced US$60 million of planned investments to grow its specialty food ingredients business in Asia.

According to the company, it commenced expansion of its modified and clean-label specialty starch capabilities in tapioca, waxy corn and rice early last year.

The investments include a 20% expansion of its tapioca modified food starch capacity in Thailand along with state-of-the-art upgrades to its wastewater treatment facilities.

It will also lead to more than double the capacity and increase the regulatory standards of its specialty rice starch and rice flour business in Thailand, which it acquired in 2017.

It will also ensure it completes a 30 percent expansion of its modified food starch capacity and further improve its corn wet milling capacity in China.

“These strategic investments are designed to accelerate our growth and strengthen our manufacturing network in Asia to meet increased consumer demand,” said Jim Zallie, Ingredion president and chief executive officer.

“Growing our global specialties business to US$2 billion in annual sales by 2022 is an integral part of our strategy to deliver long-term profitable growth and enhance shareholder value.”

“We see growing demand for both clean-label ingredients and specialty starch based texturisers throughout the region,” said Valdirene Licht, Ingredion senior vice president and president, Asia-Pacific.

“The investments will allow us to continue to evolve with our customers to provide innovative, on-trend solutions.

Our local team has extensive applications and formulating expertise combined with the broadest and deepest portfolio of waxy corn and tapioca based specialty starches and a successful track record of supporting customers in the region for more than three decades.

We’re now excited to be building our on trend rice ingredient business and we will continue to make further investments in Asia that benefit our customers globally.”

“The actions being taken in Asia are consistent with our global strategy to invest in our specialty starch franchise and expand our capabilities to innovate and offer more customized solutions for our customers around the world,” added Zallie.

The Company operates four manufacturing facilities in Thailand and three manufacturing facilities in China.