April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Empresas Polar SA has no plans to reduce investments in Venezuela this year, even as President Hugo Chavez threatens to expropriate the company, Polar’s president Lorenzo Mendoza said.

Polar will invest $350 million this year in Venezuela as planned, Mendoza said today in an interview at the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Rio de Janeiro.

“We’re not going to change our investment plan as a result of this situation,” said Mendoza, adding that Polar had no plans to relocate some of its production to neighboring Colombia, where it also has operations. “My problem is that I carry too much of Venezuela in my DNA.”

Assembly lines should return to normal levels when government forces leave a rice plant they occupied last month to check whether the company was making enough price-controlled white rice, Mendoza said. That is expected to happen in 50 days, he said.

Chavez has directly warned Mendoza, whose family has a net worth of $5 billion according to Forbes magazine, that he is now in the government’s crosshairs.

“This will end the way it should,” said Mendoza, adding that the government’s intervention was based on misinformation about the industry’s compliance with Venezuelan law. “All the truth is coming out. The government intervention was based on an erroneous premise.”

Mendoza said Polar also faced greater difficulties in recent months obtaining the dollars it needs to buy raw materials. He said he was hopeful the situation will normalize in the coming weeks as the government agency responsible for selling dollars adjusts its budget and gives priority to food and other key industries.

Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in Latin America, and food prices rose 38.9 percent in March from a year earlier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Goodman in Rio de Janeiro jgoodman19@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 15, 2009 18:49 EDT