Lamb Weston forms partnership to service South American market

Lamb Weston Holdings announced Oct. 15 that it has formed a joint venture with Sociedad Comercial del Plata in Argentina to serve the nearly two-billion-pound South American potato market. Each partner will own 50% of the new joint venture, Lamb Weston Alimentos Modernos S.A. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Lamb Weston Alimentos Modernos S.A. will sell frozen potato products under the Rapipap and Morixe brands and will operate a manufacturing facility in Munro, Buenos Aires, Argentina, with annual capacity of approximately 130 million pounds of finished goods.

“Our joint venture partner has more than 30 years of experience in the South American market, and we’re confident their depth of knowledge of the region combined with our operational expertise will allow us to expand and better serve our customers,” said Tom Werner, CEO, Lamb Weston. “South America is a strategic and growing market, and this joint venture will allow us to produce quality fries in Argentina and serve the broader South American region with an established partner.”

“We are honored to partner with Lamb Weston. We share the same values and business principles, as well as our passion for product quality and first class service to our customers,” said Ignacio Noel, President, Sociedad Comercial del Plata. “Lamb Weston is one of the world’s leading suppliers of frozen potato products, bringing to the joint venture operational excellence and best practices.”

With this announcement, Lamb Weston independently and through joint ventures operates 27 manufacturing facilities worldwide.

In July, frozen potato products competitor McCain Foods started work on a processing facility in Brazil.