Saskatchewan Grain Elevator Idles Operations

Tough times in the grain business have forced a pause in operations at a Saskatchewan elevator. 

The board of directors of North West Terminal Ltd. (NWT) announced Wednesday it plans to idle the company’s elevator located near Unity. As part of the decision, all purchases of grain from producers will be suspended and the facility's primary elevator licence will be allowed to expire. On the other hand, North West said it plans to continue operating its distillery facility at the same Unity site. 

“Significant headwinds in the grain industry have resulted in negative margins for the grain division the past several years, and are expected to continue into 2025,” North West said in a media release. 

The elevator is expected to remain idled indefinitely, until either grain industry margins improve, or part or all the elevator is sold. A review is now underway to evaluate potential strategic alternatives, the company said.  

“The temporary idling of the grain elevator is a necessary step during these turbulent times,” said NWT President Brad Sperle. “We feel it is in the best interests of NWT and stakeholders to idle the elevator and focus efforts on the distillery business while the strategic review process is underway.” 

NWT has retained FTI Capital Advisors Canada, an accounting, tax and business consulting firm, to complete the strategic review. NWT said it does not intend to disclose developments regarding the strategic review process unless the board of directors decides or otherwise determines whether disclosure is necessary or appropriate. 

NWT's facility at Unity began as a state-of-the-art 1.2 million bu (32,000 tonne) inland grain terminal designed with large capacity grain cleaning and shipping capabilities.  Today, the Unity facility is an efficient high-throughput grain elevator with a total storage capacity of 2.3 million bushels (63,000 tonnes), one of the largest grain handling facilities in Western Canada.   

NWT is an independent farmer-shareholder owned company headquartered near Unity, in the northwest region of Saskatchewan. NWT owns and operates an inland-grain terminal and a plant-based fermentation and distillation facility at its Unity location. NWT is also a minority owner of Alliance Seed Corp. in Winnipeg, and Alliance Grain Terminal Ltd. in Vancouver.