The facility has the capacity to produce 50,000 tonnes of swine and poultry feed products and will operate under the LNB(R) brand in Russia. The new operation forms part of Cargill's industrial complex in Efremov, some 330km south of Moscow.

The new facility will be able to produce a wide range of LNB® products for the swine and poultry feed market, focusing on the production of pre-starter and starter feeds for chicks and piglets, and protein-vitamin-mineral concentrates.

It forms part of Cargill's unique cluster of operations at Efremov, which include corn and wheat sweeteners plants; a vegetable oil refinery and bottling facility; a malt plant and an animal feed mill. A previously announced poultry processing plant is also in construction at present.

The opening ceremony was attended by Vyacheslav Dudka, the Governor of Tula region; Natalia Orlova, Head of Cargill in Russia and Luis Masroua, General Manager of Cargill's animal nutrition business in the country.

Speaking at the event, Ms Orlova said: "I am delighted that we are able to celebrate the opening of this animal feed facility, an extension to our animal feed mill which was built in 2009. Since we acquired the Efremov site in 1994, we have continued to expand and upgrade operations. The overall investment in Efremov industrial site is about US$400 million to date. This addition reinforces our commitment to both the economy of the Tula region and to primary processing in Russia."

Mr Masroua added: "In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in meat consumption and meat production in Eastern Europe. This investment will enable us to leverage our global expertise, technology and knowledge to support the growth of the local feed industry in Russia. Our main goal is to help Russian farmers use high quality feed to get the best results."