OMAHA (DTN) -- A pair of Illinois members of the U.S. House of Representatives have written U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to raise concerns about Chinese-owned COFCO taking full ownership of a grain terminal on the Mississippi River.
COFCO International Ltd. and Illinois-based Growmark Inc. on Thursday completed a deal announced last week in which Growmark sold its minority stake to COFCO for a grain-loading facility in Cahokia, Illinois. The facility has access to all seven Class I railroads and can accept four unit trains at a time. It is considered a "high-speed rail and truck-to-barge facility," the companies stated.
The letter from Rep. Mike Bost, a Republican, and Rep. Nikki Budzinski, a Democrat, calls on Yellen to ensure the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) considers the risks of having more ports and grain terminals owned by foreign entities, "especially China." Both Bost and Budzinski are members of the House Agriculture Committee. The Cahokia grain terminal is located in Budzinski's congressional district.
In return for giving up its minority share in the terminal, Growmark stated Thursday that the farmer cooperative "became the sole owner of one of the most influential grain warehouses in the state of Illinois, B-House, now renamed Lakeside Grain Trading, which holds 11.5 million bushels of storage capacity.
Growmark and COFCO partnered to operate the Cahokia facility as a joint venture in 2017.
COFCO is shorthand for the China Oil and FoodStuffs Corp., a Chinese state-owned entity and one of the largest food-processing companies in the world. Over the past few years, Congress and state officials have become increasingly concerned about Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland and agricultural facilities.
The lawmakers noted that there are an increasing number of foreign firms now owning river terminals and port facilities. "COFCO's acquisition of the Cahokia grain terminal is just the latest in an ongoing divesture of American waterways and will contribute to that majority."
The lawmakers added, "We respectfully request that CFIUS consider these concerns and look into this acquisition further to fully understand the scope and implications of this transaction on our national security."
The members of Congress also pointed out that COFCO also had acquired another grain terminal in 2016 when the company purchased the remaining shares of Nidera, a former grain-trading business. COFCO now has at least six facilities across the U.S. for commercial sales, port terminals and warehouse storage.
As DTN has reported, another Chinese firm, Fufeng Group, saw its efforts to build a corn mill plant in Grand Forks, North Dakota, rejected in early 2023 after Air Force officials raised concerns that the facility would be within 12 miles of an Air Force base. Fifteen states last year passed bills that banned or limited people from certain countries -- mainly China, Russia, Iran and North Korea -- from buying land in their state. More bills were introduced in 2024, including at least one in Illinois, though the state legislature there did not pass it.
China remains a top buyer for U.S. farm products, though sales have dropped since their peak in 2022. China bought $29 billion in U.S. agricultural products in 2023 and has purchased $9.8 billion in goods from Jan. 1 through April, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service.
Also see "COFCO, Growmark Swapping Facilities, Giving COFCO a Mississippi River Terminal" here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….
Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@dtn.com
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