Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Penford Corporation announced today that its principal subsidiary, Penford Products Co., has begun manufacturing industrial starch at its Cedar Rapids, Iowa facility.
The plant, which produces industrial and food starch as well as ethanol, was shut down following the record flooding of the Cedar River that occurred in mid-June of this year.
Tim Kortemeyer, President of Penford’s Industrial Ingredients business, said, “Substantial progress in our phased restoration of the plant has been made. We have commenced grinding corn and operating conversion processes to manufacture all of our industrial modified starch products. We are working with customers to fulfill their supply chain requirements and are ramping up to match our capacity with demand. Further, we currently expect to be able to resume the production of ethanol during the second half of September.”
Tom Malkoski, Penford’s President and Chief Executive Officer, noted that, “The re-start of our largest plant is positive news for our employees, the community of Cedar Rapids, customers, and investors. The extraordinary effort by our employees, contractors and service providers has made it possible to reach this milestone. I want to thank all of our supporters for their commitment to the full recovery of our business.”
About Penford Corporation
Penford Corporation develops, manufactures and markets specialty natural-based ingredient systems for food and industrial applications. Penford has nine locations in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The Cedar Rapids facility is the Company’s largest manufacturing plant.