The Ceres Global Ag Corp. Northgate Terminal is about to get a big addition.
Ceres announced plans on May 25 to build a $350 million integrated canola processing facility at its Northgate terminal to help meet the current and growing global demand for canola products.
The state of the art facility will have annual capacity to process 1.1 million metric tonnes of canola and refine over 500,000 metric tonnes of canola oil, for both food and fuel.
Robert Day, the president and CEO of Ceres Global Ag., said there is a lot of canola in the southeast region, and an opportunity exists to increase canola acreage around the Northgate location on both sides of the border.
There also isn’t a canola crush plant in the immediate area.
“Because we’re connected directly to the BNSF Railroad, we have more cost-competitive access to U.S. destinations, where we believe the majority of the demand is coming from today and in the future, and so Northgate makes an excellent destination,” said Day.
Also a factor is the success of their existing terminal at Northgate, which has been operating for six years and is a shipping hub for agriculture and crude oil products, among others.
Ceres started with a transloader at Northgate, and added a high-speed elevator and a fertilizer warehouse.
“Just the grain and canola merchandising activity has allowed us to establish strong relationships with the grower community, and really increase our confidence in our ability to pull off a project like this,” said Day.
Some work for the crush plant is already underway. Ceres has been drilling for water on the site, and they are going through all of the environmental permitting. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2022, and the facility is expected to be operational in 2024.
More than 50 full-time jobs are expected to be created once the canola crush plant is open.
Ceres will leverage the existing infrastructure at Northgate to build this plant. It will require increased capacity at the grain and canola receiving elevator.
“We’ll make some adjustments, so that we can continue the business that we’ve been running, but then also add this canola crush component to it,” said Day.
Ceres owns a soybean crush facility in southern Manitoba, and Day said the executive team at Ceres has a lot of canola crush experience with Day, along with the company’s head of business development, head of operations, commercial director and chief financial officer. But this is the first time the company has constructed and operated a crush facility.
“We are working with outside consultants and vendors that have built canola crush plants in the past, and have years and years of experience in doing that. We are making sure from the beginning to be working with experts in all levels of this project to ensure that from the construction, all the way to the commissioning and running and operating the business, that we do this as seamlessly as anyone in the industry would.”
Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig was among those who quickly welcomed the announced project.
“The ongoing partnership with Ceres has been great for the community of Estevan and surrounding rural municipalities. As Estevan’s canola crush facility, we are excited that Northgate will support families for years to come with added jobs and grain delivered to a premium market.”
Day noted Ceres consulted with the Estevan Economic Development committee on this project, and Ceres has been working with the different levels of governmentas well.
“Adding value to agriculture products right here in Saskatchewan will help us reach the goals set out in our Growth Plan,” said Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. “We welcome Ceres Global’s investment in Northgate to support and provide southeast Saskatchewan growers with a unique and valuable option for marketing their canola. With its direct connection to the BNSF railroad, Ceres can offer Saskatchewan growers access to a variety of markets in the United States.”
This is the latest announcement for a canola crush facility in Saskatchewan this year. Viterra says it intends to build the world’s largest canola crush facility in Regina, while Cargill announced it is also building a plant in Regina.
Richardson previously unveilled plans to double the capacity of its plant in Yorkton.
Day said there is interest in Saskatchewan because of the increased demand for renewable diesel in North America.
“There have been a number of projects announced where capacity is going to be coming online. The feed stack to produce renewable diesel is going to need to be vegetable oil for the most part, and so the market is looking to areas where there’s an opportunity to build a crush plant, where there’s enough production of an oil seed, where they can fill a plant to capacity.”
Renewable diesel development is transformational for agriculture in North America, and Day predicted it will be as significant as ethanol.
Saskatchewan is an area where there is more canola than crush, and Day expects there might be further announcements for companies in Saskatchewan.
