This value-added producer has rice bran to thank
By Luke Geiver | September 20, 2011

Arizona-based Nutracea is in the business of rice bran, and because of the biorefining segment of the company, business is good. In the early 1990s, the company found a way to effectively process bran, the outer portion of a rice kernel after the husk has been removed, and create a value-added product. For second quarter 2011, 70.6 percent of the revenue generated by the company came from Nutracea’s efforts to provide rice bran-based human nutrition and animal feed.

According to the company’s second quarter statements, biorefining related revenues increased “due to the overall favorable pricing environment and increased volume in animal feed and oil products.” Compared to the same period in 2010, revenues are up 21.8 percent, based on plant efficiencies associated with a shift in sales mix and higher plant production throughput driven by volume contributed to the margin expansion, according to the company. Nutracea has targeted several markets including nutraceuticals, animal nutrition, rice bran oil, meat inclusion and as a food ingredient, and the company has operating facilities in Louisiana, Montana, Arizona and Brazil.

Although the company has endured a reorganization play, Nutracea is still a prime example of a company that has taken financial advantage of a number of markets with a biobased approach. W. John Short, CEO of the company, says, “Our investments in biorefining are starting to pay off handsomely. We expect continued improvement.”

Biorefining Magazine