Agricultural Products’ crush volumes for the second half were 3.761 million tonnes, up 43% as a result of increased crush volumes following the acquisitions in 2015 of the Becancour (Canada) and Warden (U.S.) plants in the fourth quarter of 2015, Glencore said. Stronger crush volumes were also seen in Argentina.
Wheat milling was down 1% to 480,000 tonnes, from 486,000 tonnes in the same period of last year.
Rice milling increased 26% in the second half to 115,000 tonnes, from 91,000 tonnes in the same period of last year.
Glencore announced on April 6 that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Canada’s largest pension fund, plans to purchase a 40% equity interest in Glencore Agri for $2.5 billion cash.
On March 1, the company’s Agricultural Products business segment’s adjusted EBITDA for the year ending Dec. 31, 2015, was $734 million, down 39% compared to $1.2 billion in the same period of last year, the latter benefiting from an exceptionally strong Canadian harvest.
Glencore first announced it was seeking investors in its agriculture unit in September 2015, as part of a plan to reduce its $30 billion debt by $10 billion. In December 2015, the company said it had already reduced debt by $8.7 billion and had revised its debt reduction target to $13 billion.
