CHINA — UK feed manufacturer Agri has opened its ninth feed mill in Tongchuan City, China, with an annual capacity of 240,000 tonnes, to further expand production capacity in the region as it grows its global footprint.

AB Agri is looking to grow its footprint globally, and has been training its sights on South East Asia. It wants to significantly increase its presence in that region, recently recruiting business development specialist, Graham Wong, to head up its operations targeting those markets.

The Tongchuan mill is the latest in a significant investment program in China for AB Agri. The company’s Chinese mills are now producing in excess of 1.7 million tonnes of compound feed equivalent.

The new 34,000-square-meter site becomes AB Agri China’s second largest facility and comprises separate production lines for swine and ruminant feeds. 

“We are passionate about producing affordable, high quality and responsible food across the globe,” said José Nobre, chief executive officer of AB Agri. “The new mill increases our capacity and reliability across the supply chain and helps develop a sustainable future for the feed and food industry in China.”

The completion of construction was delayed by two months because of COVID-19 restrictions and bad weather.

“We are delighted and proud of the effort and passion the team demonstrated to complete this project with just a two-month delay, despite all the obstacles faced,” said Nie Kuo, managing director, AB Agri China. “As part of our responsible approach, production at the new site is free of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs), which is important given the widespread restrictions on their use and potential impact on human health antibiotic resistance.”

AB Agri expanded into China in 1996, after seeing demand for its products there. In the years since, the company has grown its presence to include 8 manufacturing sites in the central and northern parts of the country.

China is by far the largest producer of animal feed in the world. According to Alltech’s most recent annual feed survey, China produced 261 million tonnes of feed in 2021, up 8.9% from the previous year.

AB Agri last year began construction on a 1-million-tonne-per-year feed mill in eastern England. It will be AB Agri’s 11th mill in the UK.

With headquarters in Shanghai, AB Agri China now has over 1,000 employees in operations across the North East, Central and Eastern regions. It maintains that, with more than 20 years of involvement in the country, it has developed a rich understanding of the domestic livestock and feed sector.

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