American food and agriculture giant Cargill plans to invest $50 million into a malting plant in Tula, Russia. The total investment of Cargill in Russia is to be $200 million, according to Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev.

Gordeyev, who met in the White House on Monday with David Rogers, the head of Cargill's European division, Cargill International SA, was quoted October 14 as saying that the Minnesota-based company would invest the money in the construction of new plants and that the funds would begin arriving later this year.

Cargill's Moscow office said late October that it was awaiting word from its home office in the United States before releasing a statement.

The privately held conglomerate opened its Moscow office in 1991. It is involved in everything from trading grain and crude oil to processing meat, making steel, and financial services.

Cargill expects to post a net profit of $1.3 billion in 2003 on revenues of some $60 billion. It reported a profit of $798 million in 2002.

This week the conglomerate launched an international advertising campaign that employs the tag line, "Nourishing Ideas. Nourishing People," to encourage people to think of it more as a business partner than a provider of raw materials.

15 October, 2003