Cargill says it has passed the halfway mark on construction of its new canola processing facility located in the Global Transportation Hub west of Regina, Saskatchewan.
The facility, which is designed to process one million tonnes of canola per year, is now expected to open in 2025.
“The current construction environment is full of unique challenges and this project has faced many headwinds since we broke ground [in 2022], but we are committed to becoming a best-in-class option for canola growers in the region, along with helping decarbonize the global food and fuel supply chain,” says Cargill Canada president Jeff Vassart, in a July 16, 2024 update.
The company says it has recently completed the purchase of just over 400 acres near the Global Transportation Hub for better connection to existing rail lines to ship canola oil and meal pellets. This land will also provide future options for canola seed deliveries, says Cargill.
When the project was announced in 2021, Cargill originally planned to have it ready for processing the 2024 crop. The cost of the project at the time was estimated to be $350 million.
Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, and Richardson are all moving ahead or have recently completed projects to expand their canola crush capacity in Saskatchewan, boosting total processing capacity in Canada by about 30 per cent. Bunge has also made facility upgrades to increase its Western Canadian crush capacity over the past two years.
Two other major crush plant projects in Regina have been announced by Federated Co-op/AGT and Viterra, but have yet to begin.
The Federated Co-op/AGT plant would be part of Federated Co-op’s proposed $2.5 billion renewable diesel complex.
The Viterra project, which would crush 2.5 million metric tonnes annually and be the world’s largest integrated canola crush facility, is still under review as part of Bunge’s proposed acquisition of Viterra. It would be the largest single site investment in Viterra’s history.
Related:
Cargill to build canola crush plant at Regina
U.S. demand for canola oil rising, with construction underway on new crush facilities
Canola School: Where will all the meal from a 50% increase in crush capacity go?
