U.S. Grain Storage, Distribution Capital Expenditures Remain Strong in Midwest, West Coast and Great Lakes

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The project activity for grain storage and distribution capital expenditures currently reported by Industrial Info for 2012 shows spending of more than $690 million within three U.S. regions--the Midwest, West Coast and Great Lakes--from 40 projects. The Midwest region has $391 million in grain capital expenditures, with $121 million in the planning phase. The West Coast region has $155 million in grain capital expenditures, with $33 million in the planning phase, and the Great Lakes region has $149 million in grain capital expenditures, with $17 million in the planning phase.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of project activity for grain storage and distribution by region.

Two of the largest active projects in the Midwest region are a $32 million grassroot grain elevator by Liberty Grain LLC (Kimball, South Dakota) that is under construction and will have a capacity of 100,000 bushels per hour, and a $30 million grassroot shuttle-train grain loading facility by Dakota Plains Ag Center (Parkston, South Dakota) that is in the planning phase and will have a 800,000-bushel storage capacity. The largest active projects in the West Coast region include a $72 million grain port terminal expansion by United Grain Corporation (Vancouver, Washington) that is under construction and will have a 600,000-ton storage capacity, and a $50 million grain terminal expansion by CHS Incorporated (NASDAQ:CHSCP) (St. Paul, Minnesota) in the engineering phase.

The largest active project in the Great Lakes region is a $40 million grassroot river grain terminal with a 1 million-bushel capacity by Bunge North America Incorporated (NYSE:BG) (St. Louis, Missouri).

In addition to the projects in the Midwest, West Coast and Great Lakes regions, there are more than $105 million of capital projects in the Southwest, Southeast and Rocky Mountain regions.

Prices in commodities have been soaring in the past few years due in part to bio-fuels mandates, which created higher demand for corn to make ethanol. Furthermore, a growing appetite for meat in China, as well as a need in other developing countries for grain to feed livestock, continues to push the demand.

Industrial Info's coverage of the Food and Beverage Industry in North America includes more than 6,600 operational facilities and more than 1,000 active capital and maintenance projects that have a combined investment value of more than $20.2 billion.

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Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.