Richardson Oilseed to boost canola crushing capacity at Yorkton plant

Richardson Oilseed plans to increase the crushing capacity of its Yorkton canola processing plant in Canada, in order to benefit from the growing global demand for Canadian canola and canola products.

The project will boost the processing capacity of the plant by 25% from 2,400t of canola to 3,000t per day. Following the expansion, the plant will have the capacity to process more than 1 million tonnes of canola annually, compared to currently 840,000mt.

According to the company, the canola processing industry has increased its capacity by more than 70% over the last two years, in response to the strong demand for canola oil.

Richardson Oilseed vice president and general manager Pat Van Osch said that there is especially strong demand for canola oil from domestic and international food markets, due to growing consumer interest in healthier food products and biodiesel mandates.

"Canola is a Canadian success story and we are committed to continuing to increase our presence in the market to meet growing demand for Canadian canola," Osch added.

Expansion work is scheduled to start in autumn this year and is expected to be completed by late 2013. The C$170m ($166.87m) plant was originally opened in June 2010, catering to customers in the central and eastern markets of Canada and the US.

In addition to the Yorkton plant, Richardson also owns and operates a canola seed crushing, oil refining and packaging plant in Lethbridge, Alberta, which serves North America’s western markets.

Both the facilities have a combined processing capability of 1.24 million tonnes of seed for the production of canola oil-based products and high-protein livestock feed.

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Image: After the expansion Richardson Oilseed’s Yorkton plant will have an annual processing capacity of over 1 million tonnes of canola. Photo: Richardson International Limited