ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, US — Net income at CHS Inc. for the 2020 fiscal year increased to $422.4 million, down from $829.9 million in the 2019 fiscal year.

Revenue for the year fell to $28.4 billion, down from $31.9 billion compared to 2019.

The Ag segment, which includes domestic and global grain marketing and crop nutrients, renewable fuels, local retail operations, and processing and food ingredients businesses, had a pre-tax earnings of $53.7 million in the third 2020, up from $43 million in the same period a year ago.

CHS attributed the boosted earnings to optimism for improved trade relations between the US and foreign trade partners and favorable weather during fiscal year 2020 spring planting.

In fiscal year 2020, the co-op’s Corporate and Other segment had pretax earnings of $56 million, down compared to $81.5 million in the previous year.

CHS said lower earnings from its investment in Ventura Foods resulting from decreased demand due to COVID-19 in the food service industry.

The Energy segment pretax earnings for fiscal year 2020 were $225.3 million, down from $618.1 million in 2019.

“Significantly less advantageous market conditions in refined fuels business compared to the prior year that resulted in lower margins and volumes,” said CHS. “These market conditions were driven by decreased crude oil differentials on heavy Canadian crude oil processed by our refineries and decreased crack spreads, which were both negatively impacted by demand shock associated with COVID-19.”

CHS did note that increased propane volumes and improved margins helped partially offset decreased overall earnings in its Energy segment.

“We delivered record earnings in propane and benefited from good weather that led to a good planting season,” said Jay Debertin, president and chief executive officer of CHS. “Consistent with our focus on innovation in agriculture, we were awarded a patent for a crop input product that can help plants access more phosphorus and, in turn, have better yield. Continued work on integration of the West Central acquisition of 2019 and leveraging commercial synergies resulted in strong crop protection sales, and we moved increased volumes of grain because of improved trade relations.

“Like many companies, we were not immune to the challenges posed by the impacts of the pandemic especially in our refined fuels business and with our Ventura Foods joint venture.”