PureCircle Stevia Plant Expansion

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PureCircle completed the expansion of its production plant located in Bandar Enstek, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, in March 2017. Credit: PureCircle. The company spent $42m on the plant expansion. Credit: PureCircle. The Malaysian stevia plant features state-of-the-art equipment for efficient extraction of stevia ingredients. Credit: PureCircle. The expansion has doubled the facility’s production capacity. Credit: PureCircle. PureCircle has completed an expansion of its production plant located in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Announced in September 2016 and completed in March this year, the expansion involved an investment of $42m. PureCircle is one of the largest producers of natural-based, high-purity stevia ingredients. It is a vertically integrated company, complete with a fully-scaled extraction and purification facility. The state-of-the-art expansion will enable PureCircle to focus on the efficient extraction of stevia ingredients and improve its purification process. In addition, the expansion has doubled the firm’s production capacity and increased the total number of employees at the plant to approximately 600. PureCircle is continually investing in breakthrough research and development across the supply chain. The latest expansion was undertaken to ensure the company can continue to deliver its high-quality stevia products at a scale reflecting the needs of global brands. Demand for stevia ingredients has increased, particularly for PureCircle’s Zeta family. These products are made with sugar-like sweet molecules from the stevia plant, with deep calory reductions by food and beverage companies. The expansion added fully automated facilities, including a production line dedicated to the Zeta Family ingredients. PureCircle has also announced an investment of $100m in the PureCircle Agronomy Program. This programme provides research into methods for natural and sustainable stevia growth, which also benefit farmers and communities. The programme will help provide PureCircle with a 10,000ha pipeline. Together with the capacity expansion, it will enable the company to provide its customers access to stevia ingredients throughout the year. PureCircle’s product portfolio includes more than 20 stevia ingredients. The company aims to offer the best-tasting solutions across a wide range of food and beverage products at a different level of sugar reductions. The Zeta family is the most recent addition to PureCircle’s product portfolio. It can be used to reduce sugar in low-to-zero calorie products while providing a sugar-like taste profile. The ingredients were launched after several years of research and product development, alongside advances in the traditional cross-breeding of the stevia plant. PureCircle was originally established as Stevian Biotechnology in 2002 and changed its name in 2007. Expansion of the Enstek extraction and purification facility expands capacity by 50%. The company has a fully integrated supply chain from the breeding of proprietary stevia plant varieties, to growing and harvesting, extracting, and purifying into a wide range of stevia ingredients. PureCircle uses its deep stevia expertise and knowledge to collaborate with farmers and global food and beverage brands to create high-quality stevia solutions for consumers worldwide.

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