Global agribusiness giant Bunge Global has started work on the expansion of the tropical and speciality oils refinery in Avondale, Louisiana, USA, that it acquired from Fuji Oil last year, World Grain wrote.
A groundbreaking ceremony held on 29 August at the site was attended by Bunge executives, local officials, community partners and the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission (JEDCO), the 3 September report said.
JEDCO said the project, which would connect with the existing Bunge plant, was scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2025.
The US$225M expansion would include a new vegetable oil processing line and other structures to support increased oil production, JEDCO said.
“We are excited about our future in Avondale, including the opportunity to expand our product offerings,” Bunge tropical and speciality oils division general manager Brian Hudson was quoted as saying.
Following the expansion, Bunge would triple the Avondale site’s processed oil volume to 6,000 standard rail cars/year, making the facility the largest palm and speciality oils processing plant in North America, Hudson told the Times-Picayune.
Missouri-based Bunge acquired the Avondale refinery from Fuji Oil New Orleans through its Bunge Loders Croklaan joint venture with IOI Corporation Berhad in April 2023.
Fuji Oil New Orleans, which produces ingredients for the commercial food industry, completed construction of the Avondale processing facility in August 2021.
The refinery is situated in IMTT’s (International-Matex Tank Terminals) Avondale Terminal.
At the time of the acquisition, Bunge said the transaction would provide a scalable, port-based footprint that could connect its North American food, feed and fuel customers to global markets.
Bunge first announced plans to expand the refinery in an earlier World Grain report on 10 April.
The Avondale refinery expansion was part of Bunge’s wider approximately $1bn investment in the New Orleans area, the report said.
In early March, the company started work on a new oilseed processing plant near its existing processing facility in Destrehan, Louisiana.
Scheduled to become operational in 2026, the planned oilseed facility was a reportedly US$800M project by Bunge Chevron Ag Renewables, a renewable fuels joint venture between Bunge North America and Chevron USA.
