Ingredion doubles down on specialty starches investment

In June, the company announced its $160m in planned capital investments through 2024 to expand and increasingly localize its production capacity to meet customers’ growing demands for specialty starches that provide improved texture, taste, and clean-label formulations for food and beverage manufacturers. 

In September, Ingredion announced a new state-of-the-art facility in China, doubling its starch capacity and production in the country as part of its ongoing investment in the space.

“Over the last year and a half, we have seen strong customer demand recovery for our starch solutions in both food service applications as well as traditional packaged food and beverages. In addition, the Ukraine conflict has disrupted corn and other grain markets, which has forced an increase in the cost of many food ingredients. During this time, as customers managed the challenges of rising formulation costs, they have looked to specialty starches given their versatility and affordability relative to other ingredients,”​ said Pierre Perez y Landazuri, senior vice president of corporate strategy.

“In addition to releasing capacity through continuous improvement initiatives, the investments we have announced will enable us to meet the heightened demand more sustainably for our customers with increased local sourcing in the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific. These investments are improving our global supply chain flexibility for corn, waxy corn, tapioca, potato, and rice-based specialty starches. The actions we are taking combined with our deep market expertise, technical knowledge and decades-long experience innovating with specialty starch solutions will continue to make us a trusted partner for our customers,”​ added Perez y Landazuri.