2008 Allocation: $25,000,000
Roquette America is one of the world’s largest commodities processing companies, with 12 major processing centers in Europe, China, Korea, and the United States. In 2008, Roquette America evaluated sites globally for an expansion of its polyol manufacturing capabilities housed at the Keokuk, Iowa, facility. The mannitol produced is a sugar-alcohol ingredient used in food processing, pharmaceuticals, and others.
The Iowa plant had less available land for expansion, an older grain receiving elevator, difficult river dock access, constrained truck, and rail egress, and an outdated drying center. Roquette America utilized New Markets Tax Credits to assist in financing the expansion and upgrade at the existing facility in Iowa, preserving jobs and an important local market for grain. The expansion will finance equipment, buildings, utilities, load-out, road development, and engineering costs of the plant.
This expansion creates 22 new full-time jobs. It is projected that 450 full-time indirect and induced jobs in 427 other industries in the U.S. may be associated with the Roquette America expansion. The expansion will generate an estimated $262,212 in annual property taxes.
2010 Allocation: $20,000,000
RDP’s second investment into Roquette revamped the drying facilities, which enabled the company to continue purchasing grain locally instead of shipping in dry by-products.
Roquette’s products are primarily carbohydrate derivatives that are used as ingredients in the food, pharmaceutical, paper, fermentation, and other various industrial sectors, including 115 different industrial applications ranging from batteries, metal castings, finished aluminum, pills, paper goods, leather goods, and concrete additives, to animal and human food ingredients. Some 6,000 employees support a vertically integrated operation that starts with farm origination and that proceeds through first-stage processing and final ingredients refinement.
Roquette’s Keokuk facility is an older corn wet mill plant that is being upgraded over time as finances allow. Such upgrades are critically important for Roquette to remain competitive in the global markets it serves and to remain in compliance with environmental regulations. An important section of the plant that is in dire need of upgrading, both to improve economics and to reduce air emissions, is the byproduct drying center. Roquette has been working for several years on the design and financing of a new drying center and, with the help of NMTCs, is now able to proceed with construction.
Supporting growth and environmental improvements at the Roquette corn processing facility is a logical target for improving the well-being of low-income residents in the region. Roquette is the largest employer in Keokuk, the third largest employer in Lee County, and the top corporate taxpayer in Lee County. Manufacturing represents 25% of the employment in Lee County, and manufacturing jobs provide the highest average weekly wage in Lee County.
The investment helped Roquette maintain 400 jobs in the community.