Archer Daniels Spreads to Slovakia

Leading food processing company, Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM - Analyst Report), yesterday, set foot in Slovakia to grow its strategy for expansion in Central and Eastern Europe. It gained control of three grain elevators in Slovakia, which were previously owned by Palma Group a.s. and Polnonakup Hont a.s.

These new assets will broaden Archer Daniels’ origination network in Slovakia, beside the River Danube. Situated in Levice, Hontianske Nemce and Secovce, in south and east Slovakia, the facilities will mainly store and supply crops for the company’s European processing facilities. It will also help Archer Daniels to move local crops to export markets and extend additional benefits to the local farming community.

The Slovakia elevators are capable of storing nearly 149,000 metric tons and also house train loading facilities. These assets will also facilitate Archer Daniels to add to its supply of grape and sunflower seeds, as well as corn and wheat from novel sources.

Further, the acquisition complements the operations of Archer Daniels’ joint venture with Tate & Lyle in Europe, called Eaststarch. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Eaststarch’s operations mainly comprise of wet corn mills in Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey. With these new assets, Archer Daniel can now supply corn to the Boleraz site in Slovakia.

Illinois-based Archer Daniels primarily operates oilseed processing facilities in the Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, the U.K. and Ukraine.

Archer Daniels, one of the leading food processing companies in the world, processes oilseeds, corn, wheat, cocoa, and other foodstuffs, and is one of the leading manufacturers of vegetable oil, protein meal, corn sweeteners, flour, biodiesel, ethanol, and other value-added food and feed ingredients. Archer Daniels also has a worldwide grain elevator and transportation network for procurement, storage, cleansing and transportation of agricultural commodities.

Archer Daniels, which competes with Bunge Limited (BG - Snapshot Report) and Corn Products International Inc. (CPO">CPO), currently has a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a short-term Hold rating on the stock. The company retains a long-term Underperform recommendation.

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