American agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) announced Monday that it is forming a joint venture with enzymes and probiotics manufacturer Qingdao Vland Biotech Group Ltd. that will provide human probiotics products in the Chinese market.

“This exciting new joint venture represents the latest expansion in our full-scale global health & wellness business, which is helping propel growth across our entire human and animal nutrition portfolio, and creating value for ADM and customers alike,” the president of ADM’s Nutrition business, Vince Macciocchi, said in a release. “We’re excited to partner with Vland to help meet the needs of consumers who are becoming increasingly aware of the strong linkage between health of the gut microbiome and their overall health.”

Retail demand for probiotics in the country is expected to reach $1 billion in 2022, according to Macciocchi. The market is projected to grow by 9% annually.

“Vland is quite excited to partner with ADM to explore the promising market of human probiotics,” said Aron Chen, CEO of Vland, in a statement. “We believe this strong partnership between Vland and ADM – powered by technology, brand, and sales channels of both parties – will be perfectly positioned to expand production and meet demand for high-quality human probiotics in China and for global customers.”

ADM and Vland will split ownership of the joint venture and collaborate on the manufacturing and sales of the products. Following regulatory approval, the joint venture is expected to launch in the first half of 2022.

In October 2020, ADM revealed plans for a new probiotics production facility in Valencia, Spain. The project is intended to boost capacity of its Biopolis microbial technologies business to five times its current output. Once operational, the site will manufacture probiotics and postbiotics using ADM’s technology. The products will be used in skin health, weight management, gut health, oral health, fertility, and other applications.