Multinational agrifood firm Bunge has kicked off plans to expand its processing plants in Western Canada with a project to more than double its canola crush at Altona, Man.
Bunge’s St. Louis-based North American arm announced an expansion project Tuesday that will see the Altona plant’s processing capacity boosted to 2,500 tonnes per day, up from 1,100 currently.
The project also includes a new deodorizer at the plant to “fully process” its canola oil, Bunge said.
Pending the usual required approvals, the expansion is expected to go on line by harvest time in 2012, the company said. A total dollar figure for the project cost wasn’t mentioned in its release Tuesday.
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The work at Altona is “part of a multiyear expansion program across (Bunge’s) four Western Canada processing plants,” the company said.
“Canola is an attractive crop to the Canadian farmer and both acreage and yields will increase especially around Altona, making it a logical first place to expand our Canadian operations,” Rick Watson, Bunge’s country manager in Canada, said in the company’s release.
From Altona, he said, “we can serve most of Bunge’s oil packaging plants and major food manufacturers as well as efficiently transport meal to key dairy states in the upper Midwest.”
Altona is about 100 km south of Winnipeg and about 15 km north of the U.S. border crossing between Gretna, Man. and Neche, N.D.
“We are committed to expanding our presence in Canada and this project will improve efficiencies along a fully integrated chain from farmers, to food and feed manufacturers,” Bunge North America CEO Soren Schroder said in the release.
Canada remains an important part of Bunge’s growth strategy because of the increasing global demand for canola oil and meal and the growth potential here for canola seed production, he said.
All that said, Bunge didn’t go into specifics about its other Prairie expansion plans in Tuesday’s release.
Apart from the Altona plant, Bunge’s other holdings in Prairie oilseed crushing include plants at Nipawin in northeastern Saskatchewan; at Harrowby, Man., on the Yellowhead Highway just east of the Saskatchewan border; and at Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., just northeast of Edmonton.
The company’s oilseed processing business in Canada also includes a soybean and canola plant at Hamilton, Ont., and an elevator at Dixon, Sask., just west of Humboldt.
