BATON ROUGE — Louisiana Economic Development has unveiled its annual report documenting investments in Louisiana amid a year of historic public health and natural disaster responses.
“Against great odds, LED continued its core mission of increasing economic opportunity for our people,” said Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. “That work yielded 58 new economic development projects representing over 11,000 new jobs and more than $12 billion in new capital investment. In 2020, LED’s work truly exemplified our vision for a better, safer, stronger Louisiana.”
In early 2020, Louisiana attracted a manufacturing investment from Canadian company E.I. Williams to Webster Parish, along with 222 new direct and indirect jobs. Advanced Aero Services announced a Shreveport Regional Airport project with 137 new direct and indirect jobs. Other North Louisiana projects included Tomakk Glass in Shreveport (127 total jobs); a $35 million frozen foods expansion by Lamb Weston in Richland Parish (78 new jobs); and Weyerhaeuser’s $16.1 million reinvestment in its Natchitoches Mill (200 retained jobs, 45 new jobs).
In Central Louisiana, P&G and supplier Plastipak moved forward with new projects that will retain over 800 workers and result in 30 new jobs. To the south in Ville Platte, Cabot announced a $90 million reinvestment in its carbon-black facility, retaining 90 jobs and resulting in over 60 new direct and indirect jobs. Other Acadiana highlights included SchoolMint’s corporate headquarters relocation from Silicon Valley to Lafayette (397 total new jobs) and Amazon’s $100 million fulfillment center in Carencro (nearly 1,500 new direct and indirect jobs).
Other 2020 project wins for Louisiana included Grön Fuels at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge (proposed $9.2 billion renewable diesel refinery); Mitsubishi Chemical’s $1 billion acrylic resins project in Ascension Parish; ExxonMobil’s $240 million suite of refinery enhancements (retaining 1,300 refinery jobs); Hood Container’s $50 million project in St. Francisville (306 retained jobs); SCI’s corporate office expansion in Jefferson Parish (600 Louisiana retained jobs, 148 new jobs); and International Paper’s $52.5 million Bogalusa Mill modernization (492 jobs retained).
To view the full 2020 LED Annual Report, click here.
