HAZLETON, PA-Archer Daniels Midland Co. has selected a 77-acre site in Humboldt Industrial Park for its new mid-Atlantic region cocoa processing plant. In November, the Decatur, IL-based international agricultural processing giant announced its plans to build a fourth cocoa processing plant in the US, adding to ones it currently operates in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Wisconsin. It also has cocoa processing operations in Canada and on four other continents.

According to an ADM statement, construction, "pending final permitting approvals," will begin this fall and be operational in mid-2007. The facility will employ 200. A call to ADM was not returned by deadline, and details regarding the plant's size and cost were not disclosed in its announcement.

Can Do Inc., which is the Hazleton area economic development corporation, was instrumental in bringing ADM here. "We were a little surprised, but very pleased, by today's announcement, since certain details of the agreement still need to be completed," says Robert Moisey, chairman. "Our staff has worked long and hard to make this project a reality."

The board of Luzerne County commissioners, the Hazleton Township board of supervisors, and the Hazleton Area School District are providing ADM with tax abatement incentives through the Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act. In return, according to published reports, ADM has agreed to pay the school district $125,000 a year for 10 years. ADM operates more than 250 agricultural processing plants around the world. It had net sales of $35.9 billion in 2005.