Castor oil seeks $ 10 million to make castor oil

In order to cross the milestone of industrial size and start by adding value to the export, the company Castor Oil Argentina will leave by the end of the year on the financial market in search of 10 million dollars .

The company, created by Cordovan Gabriel Ríos, former director of Terminal Six (the oil company owned by Bunge and Aceitera General Deheza) and Carlos Torre, former CEO of the Agro AGD unit, specializes in the production of oil and gas. Castor oil. It is a product from which is made polyamide, a 100% synthetic fiber of plant origin, become an essential raw material for the manufacture of plastics because of its mechanical strength, hardness and durability. its rigidity high.

"After the experimental phase with cultivation, we have completed this year the pilot phase to enter 2020 on a commercial scale, when we want to start building the factory to industrialize the castor seed," explained Gabriel Ríos.

Industrial plan

With a total estimated cost of $ 25 million for the construction of an industrial complex to grind 600 tons per day, the company will carry out a $ 10 million investment round in Buenos Aires, Cordoba and in Rosario. According to Ríos, it will be the end of the year and the form has not yet been defined, which could be the issue of marketable bonds, bank financing or the issue of shares (equity).

This will be the fourth round of investments made by Castor Oil; in the previous ones, carried out in the stock exchanges of Córdoba and Rosario, it was financed to the tune of 1.1 million dollars. "Only in research and development, we have invested two million dollars," Ríos said.

The wheel grinding plant still has no place of establishment. Santiago del Estero and Córdoba are the most favored provinces. The project is scheduled to begin construction in the first months of next year and the beginning of the second half of 2021. It will start with a production line of 150 tons per day. Eight million dollars are needed for this first step. Subsequently, and as crop production increases, a module of more than 150 tons will be added and another end of 300 tons. The goal is to export 100,000 tons of oil within five years.

Plan of business

As it moves forward in the task of spreading the crop between producers in Córdoba and Santiago del Estero, where it has already sown 200 hectares, the company is negotiating future supply contracts. "Next year, the idea is to have three thousand hectares to produce between five thousand and six thousand tons, of which oil will be sold in Brazil." Already in the cycle 2020/2021, the idea is to work with 10 000 hectares in production to treat 20,000 tons, "said Ríos.

The French Arkena, world leader in polyamide production, is in negotiation with the local company. The idea is to conclude the supply contract before the investment round. Demand from the European company, which now accounts for half of production in India, the world's largest producer of castor oil, will increase by 50% in the coming years.

Unlike India, where castor oil production is almost artisbad, Castor Oil's strategy is to make it mechanical. To this end, it seeks to develop a supplier in Córdoba for harvesting heads, similar to that used for sunflower harvesting. The Italian company Fantini would serve as a reference.

Sown on the same date as soybeans and corn, castor farming can enter the agricultural rotation in the north of the province, according to its precursors. "Every five years it can be included between soybeans and corn," Ríos said. Its production cost is between that of soybeans and corn and offers a better economic result because it is a 100% export product.

100,000 are the tons of castor oil that the company Cordovan plans to market within five years. For this you will need about 200,000 tons of cereals, whose average yield is two tons per hectare.