On the morning of Oct 12, the groundbreaking ceremony for phase II of the 3.5-million-ton grain processing and comprehensive utilization project was held at Dandong Pasite Grain & Oil Co Ltd. It will become the largest grain processing production line in northeast China when construction is completed.

Phase I of the Pasite grain-processing project was completed and put into production in July 2009. At present, it has the highest daily soybean handling capacity in northeast China, adopting the most advanced processing technologies in the world. The new line can process one million tons of soybeans and produce 180,000 tons of refined soybean oil annually. In 2010, it achieved an output of more than 5 billion yuan ($787.50 million) and generated taxes of nearly 300 million yuan.

The phase II project will annually yield one million tons of soybeans, 180,000 tons of refined soybean oil and 800,000 tons of bean pulps. After being put into production, these two production lines will be able to process 6,000 tons of soybeans every day and achieve an annul output of 15 billion yuan and an annual tax turnover of 1.2 billion yuan.

Taking the phase III project into account, Pasite will become an international, large-scale grain processing base, realizing an annual grain processing capacity of 3.5 million tons with an annul output of over 30 billion yuan and an annual tax turnover of more than 2 billion yuan.

Leaders of the Dandong municipal government attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Clark Cahill