The Cinderella crop has a new Prince Charming.
Cargill officially opened its second crush facility in Canada today in Camrose, Alta.
“It makes us the largest canola processor in Canada now,” said Jeff Vassart, president of Cargill Canada.
The grain industry giant now has the capacity to crush 2.5 million tonnes of canola annually, with the one million tonnes in Camrose and another 1.5 million tonnes at its plant in Clavet, Sask., which opened in 1996.
To put that in perspective, Canada shipped 2.4 million tonnes of canola to Japan in 2014, one of the country’s oldest and largest export markets.
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Vassart said the Camrose facility has been buying canola since May and the plant is already operating near full capacity.
“It is the first major investment (in canola processing) in 30 years here in Alberta, so it’s a significant step forward,” he said.
The plant will produce about 430,000 tonnes of oil and 570,000 tonnes of meal annually.
The unrefined oil will be shipped to export markets around the world with an emphasis on meeting growing demand for the product in Asia.
Vassart said the company has already developed a good customer base for the meal through its Clavet operation.
“We see consistently strong demand from a core group of customers that have increasing needs and we’ll be able to meet them,” he said.
Cargill chose Camrose, about 75 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, as the location for its new crush facility because it is a good canola growing area and it has experience working with farmers in the region with its seed export business.
“They do an excellent job of growing a significant amount of canola in this geography and so for us it gives us a lot of confidence with the experience we’ve had with farmers here over the years,” said Vassart.
He expects growers will be pleased with unload times.
“It’s very efficient for farmers who are hauling here to be able to get on site, unload and leave within literally minutes,” said Vassart.
The facility will employ 60 permanent employees, many of them born and raised in the community.
Vassart has some concerns about this year’s canola crop but he said it is a long way from being in the bin and recent rains have improved crop condition.
“It’s not going to be the bin buster we’ve had the last couple of years but we feel that there still will be an adequate supply to be able to run the new facility here and maintain the export programs we’ve had historically,” he said.
The plant may be forced to extend its normal drawing radius of 200 to 250 kilometres to get enough feedstock to fuel its operations in 2015-16.
Vassart said there is potential for expansion at the Camrose facility and noted that it may not be the last new plant Cargill builds in Canada given the growing demand for canola oil and the Canola Council of Canada’s goal of 26 million tonnes of canola production by 2025.
“To say that it will be our final investment, I would say no,” he said.
Contact sean.pratt@producer.com
