Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Ltd., has purchased the assets of Corn Flour Producers, L.L.C. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Made up of farmers, tortilla manufacturers, restaurant owners, and other individuals interested in adding value to locally-grown corn, Corn Flour Producers was formed in 2004 with 16 partners. Production began in August 2006. Corn Flour Producers operates one plant in Worthington, Ind., and mills a variety of corn masa flours used in the production of tortillas and corn chips. The plant can produce nearly 32,000 tonnes of corn masa flour annually. The company mills locally-grown white and yellow food-grade corn, which is purchased on contract from area farmers. Most of the corn is grown in the surrounding counties of Greene, Daviess, Sullivan and Knox.
“With this purchase, Bunge enters an attractive growth market that enables us to offer a broader product portfolio to our customers,” said Wade Ellis, general manager of Bunge Milling. “We will be able to develop new products and innovations to meet customer and consumer demands while adding complementary production capabilities to our current U.S. corn dry milling and rice milling operations.”
Bunge said it expects to keep a majority of the employees currently working at the plant.
According to the 2013 Grain & Milling Annual, Bunge Milling operates four U.S. dry corn mills (Danville and Kankakee, Ill.; Atchison, Kas.; and Crete, Neb.); three U.S. specialty flour mills (Kankakee, Atchison and Crete); and one U.S. bulgur plant (Crete).
