Story by By Rod Nickel •
Farm fields of canola bloom near La Salle, Manitoba© Thomson Reuters
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Global crop trader Louis Dreyfus Corp said on Tuesday it will more than double the size of its Canadian canola crushing plant in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, the latest North American oilseed processor to expand.
A global drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has prompted refiners to start building facilities to produce less-polluting renewable diesel from canola, soybeans and other feedstocks.
Some of Louis Dreyfus' Canadian competitors such as Richardson International, Cargill Inc and Viterra have already announced plans to expand canola crushing, raising questions about how much more of the yellow-flowering crop farmers can grow to supply the plants.
U.S. soybean crushing is also fast expanding.
Canola futures soared to record highs last year after Russia invaded Ukraine, then the world's biggest sunflower oil exporter, tightening vegetable oil supplies.
Canada is the world's biggest producer and exporter of canola, a cousin of rapeseed that is mainly processed into vegetable oil for human consumption and meal for animal feed.
Louis Dreyfus, in a statement, said that construction will begin this year and more than double the facility's annual crush capacity to more than 2 million tonnes. It did not say when it expects the expansion to be complete or how much it will cost.
The 14-year-old facility employs 120 people currently.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris)
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