Regions

North America

Grains & Oilseeds Rebound

The Region saw a large increase in Grains & Oilseeds export demand, as sales to China rebounded following the easing of US-China trade tensions, and feed demand increased due to the strong recovery of China’s swine sector.

Resilience in Cotton

As Covid-19 disruptions negatively affected the Cotton Platform due to mill closures, reduced retail demand and historically low prices, LDC significantly increased cotton volumes stored, bridging customer demand and creating opportunities as the market rebounded later in 2020.

Investment in Innovation

Our LDC Innovations corporate venture capital program invested in Benson Hill, a company working to meet demand for plant-based alternatives to animal protein by combining plant biology and genomics with the power of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Max Clegg
Head of LDC Innovations

Benson Hill is using its cutting-edge technology platform to address growing market demand for more nutritious, better tasting and more sustainable varieties of soybean and yellow pea. LDC is excited to support Benson Hill’s efforts to bring these products to market.

More Regional Highlights

We continued to diversify revenue through value-added products, investing in new glycerin packaging options for customers at our Grains & Oilseeds processing plant in Claypool, Indiana, US.

We also initiated infrastructure investments to drive synergies and expand our product offer to existing Claypool customers, including a lecithin processing unit and a packaging line for canola oil sourced via Yorkton, Canada.

Construction of two new bean barns significantly increased Claypool’s soybean storage capacity, positioning LDC to capture a larger share of the farmer direct harvest bushels.

The passage of the US biodiesel blenders tax credit in 2019 allowed for consistent and stable demand throughout the period, as well as improved refining margins at our Claypool plant.

We installed a fourth fermenter at our ethanol plant in Norfolk, Nebraska, US, increasing ethanol production capacity by 10% through a higher corn grind and an improved ethanol yield.

We continued to increase efficiencies through automation at our grain elevators, implementing new truck receiving software and hardware.

Meeting increased sugar demand as consumers turned to home baking during the Covid-19 pandemic, we refined higher volumes and captured strong margins.

US$18million

invested in bean barns at Claypool

160,000 MT

increase in soy storage capacity at Claypool

↑10%

increase in ethanol production capacity at Norfolk

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