ST. LOUIS — Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Ltd., said it is discontinuing soybean processing and related plant operations at its facility in Danville, Ill., effective April 23. The facility will continue to handle soybeans as a grain elevator, and the co-located corn mill at the site will remain open, Bunge said.

“We are faced with a soybean processing market that has more capacity than required and to operate all of our soybean processing assets as efficiently as possible, we made the difficult decision to discontinue soy operations at Danville,” said Mark Van Emon, vice-president and general manager, Bunge Oilseed Processing. “As a longtime member of the Danville community, we are disappointed that we must end soybean processing, but we are pleased that we will continue to operate the corn mill and serve local farmers as an elevator.”

Bunge said it will honor all existing producer contracts for corn and soybeans and will continue to contract for soybeans as well as corn for delivery to Danville. All meal and oil contracts also will be honored.