December 17/Barby, Germany/Press Release -- Cargill has announced that it will invest 60 million Euros in building a new ethanol facility in Barby, Saxony Anhalt, Germany. The plant will produce premium ethanol destined for the German and European beverage, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

"This investment by our starches and sweeteners business will allow us to further build on our ethanol expertise in Europe, enabling us to better serve our customers throughout the region," said Frank van Lierde, executive vice president at Cargill.

The new facility will be built alongside Cargill's existing wheat processing plant on the company's site in Barby. The plant will produce ethanol through innovative technology by using feedstock from the adjacent wheat facility, using primarily locally grown wheat.

Van Lierde continued, "This expansion will complement our existing network of ethanol facilities in Manchester in the U.K., Sas van Gent and Bergen op Zoom in The Netherlands and Wroclaw in Poland."

The new plant will be built to the highest environmental, food and health and safety standards, using the best available technologies. It is expected to be operational by the autumn of 2015.