Ceres Global Ag Corp. announces its financial and operating results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.
Robert Day, president and CEO of Ceres said the third quarter was "outstanding" for the company, adding to the record financial performance for the year.
“Once again, our team successfully navigated through volatile markets, this time influenced by geo‐political events that were difficult to anticipate," said Day.
"During the quarter we continued to make meaningful progress on our growth strategy as we secured the right to purchase 50% ownership of Berthold Farmers Elevator, LLC, and we advanced on two key projects: expansion of the grain elevator in the Farmers Grain, LLC joint venture in Thief River Falls, to be completed in July 2022, and the canola crush project at Northgate.”
Personnel changes
Ceres Global also announced personnel changes, including naming Holly Dammeras vice president, human resources, and promoting Blake Amundson to chief financial officer.
Jay Bierley, vice president and CFO, resigned from Ceres after two years but will stay until the end of the month to ensure a smooth transition.
2022 challenges and outlook
Days said limited supplies across the industry, unpredictable weather as farmers plant crops for next year and the war in Ukraine are likely to cause more volatility and high prices for the products the company trades and merchandizes.
"Ceres is well positioned from an infrastructure and talent perspective to capitalize on opportunities created from this environment, and we expect to continue performing well financially in the fourth quarter and into next fiscal year," said Day.
“Our plans for building a canola processing facility in Northgate, SK, remain on track," he noted. "We continue to advance on the design and engineering work needed to clarify total project cost and bring in the remaining capital needed to fund the project.”
Canola crush facility in Saskatchewan
Ceres Global announced plans in spring 2021 to build a $350 million integrated canola processing facility in Northgate, SK, to help meet the current and growing global demand for canola products.
The state-of-the-art facility will have capacity to process 1.1 million metric tons of canola and refine over 500 thousand metric tons of canola oil, for both food and fuel, annually.
The facility is expected to be operational by summer 2024 and is expected to result in the creation of over 50 full time jobs in Saskatchewan, which is the largest canola producing province in Canada.
"We have been analyzing canola crush at Northgate for several years as its location along the Canada-U.S. border is ideally located to originate canola seed from our farmer partners, and with a direct connection to BNSF Railway, it provides the most efficient access to the U.S. market and U.S. ports," said Day.
"Our Northgate facility includes a 2.7 million bushel shuttle loading grain elevator and two 120-car loop tracks, providing ‘construction-ready’ infrastructure and shortening the timeline to complete this project.”
