Origination results were up substantially year over year. 

Merchandising and Handling was significantly higher versus the weak third quarter of 2017. In North America, the business managed risk well in a volatile price environment, and capitalized on its asset base to deliver higher volumes and margins, including strong export sales to customers in markets outside of China. In Global Trade, good utilization of the company’s global network of origination assets and continued expansion of destination marketing volumes and margins drove solid results.

Transportation results more than doubled year over year. 

Oilseeds results were also up significantly over the prior-year period. 

Crushing and Origination set a new record for crush volumes, leveraging its strong global asset base and the company’s growing destination marketing capabilities to capitalize on higher global crush margins. Soybean crush was the major driver of earnings growth, with North America and South America all delivering substantially higher results year over year. Softseeds results had a significant improvement from the third quarter of 2017. 

Refining, Packaging, Biodiesel and Other was down versus the third quarter of 2017. Biodiesel was up substantially year over year, and edible oils continued to perform well. Peanut shelling margins were significantly lower, primarily caused by large peanut inventories and difficult market conditions. 

Carbohydrate Solutions results were slightly lower than the year-ago quarter. 

Starches and Sweeteners delivered solid results, slightly below the strong prior-year period. EMEA sweeteners continued to benefit from recent acquisitions, delivering good results despite sugar oversupply in the region. Flour milling was higher, benefiting from strong wheat procurement results and timing effects. North American liquid sweeteners were negatively impacted by higher input and manufacturing costs.

Bioproducts results were down, as positive results from effective ethanol risk management as well as beverage and industrial alcohols were offset by an extremely weak ethanol industry margin environment.

Decatur plant downtime issues continued to impact North American results. 

Nutrition results were in line with the prior-year period. 

In Animal Nutrition, issues that developed during the quarter constrained lysine production volumes and increased manufacturing costs, contributing to lower year-over-year results. Lower premix margins also impacted results.