CHS to invest $3 bn in fertiliser plant in North Dakota

CHS Inc, the US-based farmer-owned cooperative and a global agriculture and energy company, plans to construct a fertiliser manufacturing plant at Spiritwood, North Dakota (USA) with an investment of approximately $3 billion. The plant is expected to be fully operational in the first half of calendar 2018.
 
"With this decision, CHS is taking an important, strategic step on behalf of its member-owners by ensuring them a reliable domestic supply of nitrogen fertilisers essential to help farmers raise healthy, profitable crops to feed a growing global population," said Carl Casale, President and Chief Executive Officer, CHS.
 
The fertiliser plant at Spiritwood will be the single largest investment in CHS history, as well as the single largest private investment project ever undertaken in North Dakota.
 
Tim Skidmore, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, CHS, said, "CHS is a financially strong company with the balance sheet strength to undertake this significant investment. We believe this fertiliser plant will deliver solid returns on our owners' investment in addition to providing them with an essential crop input."
 
The CHS fertiliser plant will produce more than 2,400 tonnes of ammonia daily which will be further converted to urea, UAN and Diesel Exhaust Fuel (DEF). The majority of the nitrogen products from the plant will serve farmer-owned cooperatives and independent farm supply retailers within a 200-mile radius of the plant in the Dakotas, parts of Minnesota, Montana and Canada.