Farm Frites begins working with Chinese fry factory

Today Inner Mongolia Linkage Potato Co., Ltd and Farm Frites signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in Wudan Town, Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia in China. The joint venture, which will be called 'Inner Mongolia Linkage Farm Frites Co., Ltd.', will build a new fry factory and will mainly cater to the high-end market in China.

Linkage has been active in the potato sector for a number of years now. Along with producing mini-tubers and seeds, they are also active in the cultivation and storage of potatoes. They supply a few big customers and produce potato flakes themselves in their factory in Wudan Town. Farm Frites is one of the leading players in the global fry market. They have production locations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Egypt and Argentina.

The new fry factory, which will have the capacity to produce 70,000 tons of product, will be built next to the current Linkage establishment. The potatoes will be grown within 200km of the factory on a large-scale modern farm. Cultivation, harvesting and storage of the potatoes will be performed using modern technology based off American and European knowledge. Both potato storage and a cold storage warehouse for the finished product will be built at the same location, so that a fully integrated operation occurs.

According to Yan Hongzhi, director of Linkage, this collaboration with Farm Frites is extremely important in order to gain access to the top quality agricultural know how that is needed for the production and processing of potatoes, and to reach the high-end fry market.

Piet de Bruijne, director of Farm Frites, sees this as a fantastic opportunity to gain a strategic position in the largest food market in the world.