CHS is a producer-owned cooperative, bringing together producers, refiners and processors of grains and grain products. As well as its food ingredients operations, the company also has finished foods and energy businesses.

For the period ending February 29, the company recorded record sales of $13.4bn, compared to $7.5bn one year earlier. Gross profit also went up to $572.3m, a 54 per cent increase from 2007.

However, the cost of goods sold also went up by a massive 81 percent to hit $12.8bn.

The company claimed it was paying a high price for commodities, but not always selling products on with a "corresponding change". Margins therefore dipped slightly to 4.3 percentage points from 4.9 percentage points in 2007, the company said.

CHS also claimed that the second quarter is a quiet time for the business, as it does not fall on the lucrative spring planting or fall harvest seasons.

The high price of grain did have some benefits for the firm, however; as profits in this division hit $153m, compared to $77m and $16m for its energy and processing sectors respectively.

Grain sales were driven by huge demands for crops to make ethanol as well as food products, the company said.

The CHS company

CHS now claims to be one of the fastest growing grain companies in the world, and last October it announced the expansion of its jointly-owned Brazilian agricultural commodity business, Multigrain.

It also expanded its European presence, with the launch of a new grain marketing office in Geneva in July

CHS exports around 60 percent of the 1.2bn bushels of grain it handles annually, and expanding its operations abroad allows it to more efficiently cater for this demand.

The firm sources its US grains and oilseeds including soybeans, corn, wheat and barley, as well as soybeans from its Brazilian operations.