AFYREN Propionic Acid Powers World's First Natural Skincare Product

CJ CheilJedang and ADM have agreed to form a new joint venture to secure a reliable, long-term source of feed-grade amino acids critical to the livestock industry, strengthening U.S. production, global supply chain resilience and U.S. food security. The joint venture will develop, manufacture and market fermentation-derived amino acids by combining CJ's fermentation production facilities in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Piracicaba, Brazil, ADM's Decatur, Illinois, feed-grade amino acid plant, and CJ's Mexico, Brazil and U.S. sales offices, along with a license to CJ's intellectual property related to feed-grade amino acids for use by the joint venture within North and South America. CJ and ADM will give the JV exclusive rights to manufacture and sell feed-grade amino acids in the Americas, and CJ will be the majority owner. CJ will retain ownership of its intellectual property and its global fermentation businesses outside the scope of the joint venture, while ADM's other Decatur operations and its other global fermentation assets are not included in the transaction. The launch date for the proposed joint venture is subject to customary closing activities as well as regulatory approvals.

Shares of Bangchak Corporation Public Company Limited, or BCP, rose 5.05% to 52.00 baht at 10:05 a.m. on October 2, 2026, on trading value of 300.57 million baht, after Land and Houses Securities said in an analysis that the company's sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, project of BSGF Company Limited, in which BCP holds an 80% stake, is Thailand's first stand-alone SAF production project. Located at the Bangchak Phra Khanong refinery, it uses mainly used cooking oil as feedstock and Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acid technology to produce neat SAF, as well as Bio-LPG and Bionaphtha, with initial production capacity of about 1 million liters per day. The project was completed with an investment of about 8.5 billion baht, first produced in May 2026, and in the second quarter of 2026 ran at an average of about 6,800 barrels per day, or roughly 1.08 million liters per day, with total sales of about 39 million liters and EBITDA of about 1 billion baht, even though commercial operations began only halfway through the quarter. It received an eight-year corporate income tax exemption and a 50% tax reduction for the following five years from the Board of Investment. Land and Houses Securities expects the SAF business to begin generating full-quarter profits for the first time in the third quarter of 2026 and sees a chance of EBITDA exceeding 2 billion baht in that quarter, potentially reaching about 8 billion baht on a full-year basis in 2027. Meanwhile, the acquisition of Chevron Hong Kong, completed at the end of the second quarter of 2026, will also begin contributing a full quarter of results for the first time in the third quarter of 2026. It therefore maintained a buy rating on BCP with a target price of 56 baht. Trinity Securities said after visiting the project that the plant runs at an average utilization rate of about 6,800 barrels per day, close to its designed capacity of 7,000 barrels per day, and has the flexibility to switch between SAF and HVO, or renewable diesel, with SAF yields of about 90% while HVO is about 98%. It also views the project as adding about 7,000 barrels per day of new production capacity to BCP's portfolio, on top of its existing refining base of about 294,000 barrels per day, with plans to raise capacity by about 50% from roughly 1 million liters per day to 1.5 million liters per day, equivalent to about 10,000 to 11,000 barrels per day. It recommended buying BCP with a target price of 55 baht.