Archer Daniels Midland + COFCO
Archer Daniels Midland
Chicago, Illinois · 1 relationship
Active relationship
Joint Venture · 1993–present
COFCO
Beijing, Beijing · 1 relationship
Analysis
East Ocean Grain & Oil Industries in Zhangjiagang was established in 1995 with a reported $228 million investment from COFCO, U.S.-based Archer Daniels Midland and Singapore's KENSPOT. The venture combined Chinese market access and grain-industry infrastructure with foreign commodity-processing capital and expertise. [1]
The complex processes soybeans, wheat and rice and produces refined oils, fats and soybean meal. COFCO reported that repeated expansions brought soybean-processing capacity to 12,000 metric tons per day, and that the company's 2004 sales revenue reached RMB 9.1 billion; these figures place the partnership at industrial rather than pilot scale. [1]
The relationship extended into connected supply and storage arrangements. A Hong Kong-listed COFCO affiliate disclosed that ADM held a 30 percent interest in a related COFCO-ADM company through a trust arrangement and that the parties maintained a mutual raw-material and product supply agreement, illustrating how the partners' cooperation reached beyond a single processing line into procurement and distribution. [2]
COFCO continued to identify the Zhangjiagang East Ocean site as part of its national processing network in later corporate materials. The venture's significance lies in the durable integration of global agricultural trading with a large Chinese oils-and-grains processing hub, creating capacity for imported oilseeds to be converted into food and feed products close to Yangtze River Delta consumers. [3] [4]
Participants
Continue through either entity
Chicago, Illinois · 1 record in this database
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company traces its origins to 1902, when George A. Archer and John W. Daniels began a linseed-crushing business. ADM says the regional linseed-oil operation grew into a global agricultural supply-chain manager and processor, as well as a human- and animal-nutrition company and developer of bio-based products. [1]
ADM's 2025 Form 10-K organizes its operations into three reportable segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions and Nutrition. The filing says Ag Services and Oilseeds covers origination, merchandising, transportation and storage of agricultural raw materials, plus oilseed crushing and processing; Carbohydrate Solutions covers corn and wheat milling and related products; and Nutrition serves human food, beverage and supplement markets as well as livestock, aquaculture and pet nutrition. [2]
The portfolio links raw commodities to specific ingredients and end uses. Corn and wheat processing produces sweeteners, starches, syrups, glucose, flour and dextrose, while fermentation produces alcohol and ingredients for food and animal feed, including ethanol and distillers' grains. Nutrition products include plant-based proteins, natural flavors and colors, emulsifiers, fiber, polyols, hydrocolloids, probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes, botanical extracts, feed additives and pet foods and treats. [2]
ADM says its recent portfolio transformation is aligned with food security, health and well-being and sustainability. The company reports that it is headquartered in Chicago, has 44,000 colleagues serving customers across six continents and generated $85 billion in revenue in 2024. These figures are company-reported and describe the scale of the network through which ADM connects agricultural production with food, feed, fuel and industrial markets. [1] [3]
Beijing, Beijing · 1 record in this database
COFCO Corporation is a Chinese central state-owned enterprise founded in 1949, the same year the People’s Republic of China was established. The company now describes agriculture as its core business, with significant activities in food, finance, and real estate. At the end of 2025, COFCO reported total assets above RMB 700 billion and revenue of RMB 589.1 billion. [1]
Its history began with the North China Foreign Trade Company, established in Tianjin in February 1949, and the subsequent creation of state-owned cereals, oils, foodstuffs, and related trading companies. In 1961, the China National Cereals, Oils and Oilseeds Export Corporation and the China Foodstuffs Export Corporation were combined into a national import-and-export organization, which COFCO identifies as the channel for China’s trade in commodities such as wheat, corn, rice, and sugar for much of the following decades. [2]
COFCO now describes an integrated agri-food chain covering storage, logistics, processing, and trade across six continents, with assets in nearly 40 countries and regions and an annual agri-food operating volume of 180 million tons. Its product portfolio includes grains, oils, sugar, cotton, and other agricultural commodities, while its domestic role includes agricultural-product trading, oilseed and grain processing, food manufacturing, and logistics corridors connecting northern production areas with southern markets. [1] [3]
The group also has consumer-facing and financial businesses. COFCO says its food brands cover rice, flour, edible oil, sugar, wine and spirits, beverages, meat, tea, and dairy, and that its products reach more than four million sales outlets in China. A partnership-specific example is COFCO Coca-Cola, a joint venture established by COFCO and The Coca-Cola Company in 2000; it operates 20 bottling plants in 19 provincial markets and produces and distributes Coca-Cola products in its authorized territories. COFCO’s corporate office is in Beijing, so the earlier Zhangjiagang headquarters entry is corrected here. [1] [4] [5]