Image source: The Motley Fool.
图片来源:The Motley Fool。
Andersons Inc(NASDAQ: ANDE)
安德森一家公司(纳斯达克:安德)
Q4 2020 Earnings Call
2020年第四季度业绩电话会议
Feb 17, 2021, 11:00 a.m. ETContents:Prepared Remarks
2021年2月17日，上午11点，ETContents:准备好的发言稿
Questions and Answers
问题和答案
Call ParticipantsPrepared Remarks:
叫ParticipantsPrepared备注:
Operator
操作符
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to The Andersons 2020 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]
女士们先生们，谢谢你们的支持，欢迎来到安德森2020年第四季度业绩电话会议。【操作说明】
I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference call, Mr. John Kraus, Director of Investor Relations. You may begin, sir.
现在我想介绍今天电话会议的主持人，投资者关系主管约翰·克劳斯先生。先生，你可以开始了。
10 stocks we like better than The Andersons
我们比安德森家族更喜欢这10支股票
David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and The Andersons wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.
大卫和汤姆刚刚透露了他们认为目前投资者最值得购买的十支股票。安德森一家不是其中之一!没错，他们认为这10只股票更值得买进。
John Kraus --
约翰·克劳斯——
Thanks, Kevin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for The Andersons Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings Call. We have provided a slide presentation that will enhance today's discussion. If you're viewing this presentation via our webcast, the slides and commentary will be in sync. [Operator Instructions] And the recording and the supporting slides will be made available on the Investors page at our -- of our website at andersonsinc.com shortly.
谢谢你,凯文。大家早上好，感谢大家参加安德森2020年第四季度业绩电话会议。我们提供了一个幻灯片来加强今天的讨论。如果你是通过我们的网络直播观看这个演讲，幻灯片和评论将是同步的。[操作说明]，录音和支持幻灯片将很快在我们的网站andersonsinc.com的投资者页面上提供。
Certain information discussed today constitutes forward-looking statements, and actual results could differ materially from those presented in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including general economic conditions; weather; competitive conditions; conditions in the company's industries, both in the United States and internationally; the COVID-19 pandemic; and additional factors that are described in the company's publicly filed documents, including its '34 Act filings and the prospectuses prepared in connection with the company's offerings. Today's call includes financial information, which the company's independent auditors have not completely reviewed.
今天讨论的某些信息构成前瞻性陈述，由于许多因素，包括一般经济状况，实际结果可能与前瞻性陈述中提出的结果存在重大差异;天气;竞争条件;公司所在行业(美国和国际)的情况;COVID-19流行;以及该公司公开提交的文件中描述的其他因素，包括其在《34项法案》(Act)上提交的文件以及与该公司上市相关的招股说明书。今天的电话会议包括财务信息，该公司的独立审计人员尚未完全审查这些信息。
Although the company believes that the assumptions upon which the financial information and its forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these assumptions will prove to be accurate. This presentation and today's prepared remarks contain non-GAAP financial measures. The company believes that adjusted pre-tax income; adjusted pre-tax income attributable to the company; adjusted net income attributable to the company; adjusted diluted EPS; earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA; adjusted EBITDA; and cash flow from operations before changes in working capital provide additional information to investors and others about its operations, allowing an evaluation of underlying operating performance and better period-to-period comparability.
虽然本公司认为财务信息及其前瞻性报表所依据的假设是合理的，但不能保证这些假设将被证明是准确的。本报告和今天准备的发言稿包含非公认会计准则财务措施。公司认为，调整后的税前收入;应归属于公司的调整税前收入;应归属于公司的调整净利润;调整稀释每股收益;利息、税项、折旧及摊销前收益;调整后的息税前利润;营运资本变化前的营运现金流为投资者和其他有关营运的人提供了额外的信息，从而可以评估基本的营运业绩和更好的期间间可比性。
These measures do not and should not be considered as alternatives to net income, income before income taxes, net income per share and cash provided by or used in operating activities as determined by generally accepted accounting principles. On the call today with me, as usual, are Pat Bowe, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Brian Valentine, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In addition, our Corporate Controller, Mike Hoelter, is joining us today. He'll be assuming responsibility for Investor Relations beginning next quarter as I am retiring in mid-March. After our prepared remarks, Pat, Brian and I will be happy to take your questions.
这些计量方法不能也不应该被认为是净收入、所得税前收入、每股净收入和按照公认会计原则在经营活动中提供或使用的现金的替代方法。和往常一样，今天和我一起参加电话会议的是公司总裁兼首席执行官帕特·鲍;Brian Valentine，执行副总裁兼首席财务官。此外，我们公司的财务总监，Mike Hoelter，今天也将加入我们。他将从下个季度开始负责投资者关系，而我将在3月中旬退休。在我们准备好的发言之后，我和帕特、布莱恩很乐意回答大家的问题。
With that, Pat, the floor is yours.
说到这里，帕特，地板归你了。
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. I appreciate you joining our call this morning to review our fourth quarter results. I want to begin today by thanking our 2,400 employees for successfully rising to the challenge in a year that we'll not soon forget. Our plant employees adopted the necessary additional practices needed to continue safely running our essential business operations, and our office staff quickly adapted to work inefficiently from home. We could not have accomplished what we did in 2020 without their tireless efforts.
谢谢你，约翰，大家早上好。感谢各位今天上午参加我们的电话会议，回顾我们第四季度的业绩。今天我想首先感谢我们的2400名员工，感谢他们在我们不会很快忘记的一年里成功应对了挑战。我们的工厂员工采取了必要的额外措施，以继续安全运行我们的基本业务运作，我们的办公室员工迅速适应了在家里低效率地工作。没有他们的不懈努力，不可能取得二0二0年的成就。
John Kraus mentioned in his opening remarks that he is retiring next month after 33 years of service to our company. John has held positions in tax, rail and most recently as Head of our Investor Relations. I want to thank John publicly for his work in IR for us the last four years and for his outstanding contributions over his long and successful career with The Andersons. ANDE is a company he grew up with, as John is the grandson of the company's Founder, Harold Anderson. We wish him all the best in his retirement. We also look forward to Mike Hoelter taking responsibility for managing this important function.
约翰·克劳斯在他的开场白中提到，他为我们公司服务了33年，下个月就要退休了。约翰曾在税务、铁路部门任职，最近担任我们的投资者关系主管。我想公开感谢约翰在过去四年里为我们在国际关系所做的工作，以及他在安德森家族漫长而成功的职业生涯中做出的杰出贡献。安德公司是他从小一起长大的，因为约翰是安德公司创始人哈罗德•安德森的孙子。我们祝愿他退休后一切顺利。我们也期待Mike Hoelter负责管理这一重要职能。
Now let's look at our results for the quarter. The Trade business led the way in the fourth quarter by earning adjusted pre-tax income that exceeded 2019 results by more than 60%. Strong merchandising results and grain elevations, which were the best since 2014, were bolstered by robust exports, particularly to China. We shipped the most vessels from the Port of Toledo in decades, and exports out of our Houston terminal were the highest in four years. The grain price rally also provided welcome trading volatility. The Ethanol business performed well in the fourth quarter in spite of significantly weaker year-over-year crush margins and recording a large mark-to-market charge.
现在让我们来看看这个季度的结果。贸易业务在第四季度领先，其调整后的税前收入比2019年的业绩高出60%以上。强劲的商品销售业绩和谷物海拔(自2014年以来最高)是由强劲的出口(尤其是对中国的出口)支撑的。几十年来，我们从托莱多港装运了最多的船只，休斯顿码头的出口量也是四年来最高的。谷物价格的上涨也带来了可喜的交易波动。乙醇业务在第四季度表现良好，尽管较上年同期大幅下降，并录得巨额按市价收费。
On a more positive note, the business netted better income from high-protein feed products, DDGs, corn oil and trading. We're executing well against our high-protein feed strategy and are realizing the incremental revenue on the new higher protein feed products that we shared with you all at our Investor Day last year. We're very optimistic about the outlook for these enhanced feed products. The Plant Nutrient business closed its best year since 2014 with a solid quarter, driven by a higher year-over-year fertilizer volumes. Like grain prices, fertilizer prices have risen considerably as well. Rail reported modest income that was below last year's results.
更积极的消息是，该业务从高蛋白饲料产品、玉米酒糟粕、玉米油和贸易中获得了更好的净收入。我们在高蛋白饲料战略上执行得很好，并实现了新的高蛋白饲料产品的增量收入，这是我们在去年的投资日上与大家分享的。我们对这些强化饲料产品的前景非常乐观。受化肥同比增长的推动，植物营养品业务以强劲的季度业绩完成了2014年以来最好的一年。和粮食价格一样，化肥价格也大幅上涨。铁路公司报告的收入低于去年。
The decrease reflects our decision to sell fewer cars during the quarter. Continued lower rail traffic year-over-year negatively impacted both leasing and repair. We've implemented significant cost reductions over the last several years. We continue to expect that these actions should result in more than $25 million in permanent cost reductions. These efforts were demonstrated in 2020 and have set us up well for future growth. Overall, we're happy with our fourth quarter results and the momentum we built entering into 2021.
下降反映出我们决定本季度减少汽车销售量。持续下降的轨道交通对租赁和维修都产生了负面影响。在过去的几年中，我们已经实现了显著的成本削减。我们继续期望，这些行动将导致2 500多万美元的永久费用削减。这些努力在2020年得到了证明，为未来的增长奠定了基础。总的来说，我们对第四季度的业绩和我们在2021年建立起来的势头感到满意。
I'm now going to turn things over to Brian. When he's finished, I'll be back to discuss our outlook for early 2021. Brian?
现在我要把事情交给布莱恩。等他讲完后，我会回来讨论我们2021年初的前景。布莱恩?
Brian A. Valentine --
布莱恩·a·瓦伦丁——
Thanks, Pat. We're now turning to our fourth quarter results on slide number five. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the company reported net income attributable to The Andersons of $16 million or $0.48 per diluted share and adjusted net income of $19.4 million or $0.59 per diluted share on revenues of $2.5 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2019, we reported net income attributable to the company of $6.6 million or $0.19 per diluted share and adjusted net income of $18.4 million or $0.55 per diluted share on revenues of $1.9 billion. Adjusted pre-tax income attributable to the company increased $4.8 million year-over-year as a sizable increase in trade's performance and lower corporate expenses more than offset a small loss in Ethanol that was driven by a $6.6 million noncash mark-to-market charge, as Pat mentioned earlier.
谢谢你,帕特。现在我们来看看第五张幻灯片上第四季度的结果。2020年第四季度，该公司公布了归属于安德森的净利润为1600万美元(摊薄后每股收益0.48美元)，调整后净利润为1940万美元(摊薄后每股收益0.59美元)，营收为25亿美元。在2019年第四季度，我们报告了归属于公司的净利润660万美元或摊薄后每股0.19美元，调整后净利润1840万美元或摊薄后每股0.55美元，营收19亿美元。调整后的可归给公司的税前收入同比增长了480万美元，这是由于贸易业绩的大幅增长和较低的公司支出，超过了由660万美元非现金计价费用导致的乙醇业务的小幅亏损，正如Pat之前提到的。
Adjusted EBITDA attributable to the company was $85 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, which was comparable to 2019 despite the impacts of the pandemic on our 2020 results. For the full year 2020, net income attributable to The Andersons was $7.7 million or $0.23 per diluted share and adjusted net income attributable to The Andersons was $2.9 million or $0.09 per diluted share on revenues of $8.2 billion. These numbers compare to reported net income of $18.3 million earned in the same period of 2019 or $0.55 per diluted share and adjusted net income attributable to the company of $43 million or $1.30 per diluted share on revenues of $8.2 billion. The year-over-year decline was largely driven by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our Ethanol business.
2020年第四季度，该公司的调整息税折旧摊销前利润为8500万美元，与2019年相当，尽管大流行对我们2020年的结果产生了影响。2020年全年，归属于安德森家族的净利润为770万美元或摊薄每股0.23美元，调整后归属于安德森家族的净利润为290万美元或摊薄每股0.09美元，营收为82亿美元。相比之下，2019年同期公布的净利润为1830万美元，摊薄后每股收益为0.55美元，调整后的公司应归属净利润为4300万美元，摊薄后每股收益为1.3美元，营收为82亿美元。同比下降的主要原因是COVID-19大流行对我们乙醇业务的影响。
This was offset in part by significantly better performance in our Plant Nutrient segment and considerably lower corporate expenses driven by our cost savings initiatives. Full year adjusted EBITDA was $226 million compared to 2019 full year adjusted EBITDA of $254 million. Our full year 2020 reported effective tax rate of 42% included the effects of $14.8 million in CARES Act tax benefits. Those benefits resulted in more than $39 million in tax refund requests, most of which we expect to receive in 2021. We currently believe that our 2021 effective income tax rate will be in the range of 24% to 26%, excluding the tax impact of income from the noncontrolling interest.
这部分被我们在植物营养部门显著改善的表现和我们的成本节约计划显著降低的公司费用所抵消。全年调整息税折旧摊销前利润为2.26亿美元，而2019年全年调整息税折旧摊销前利润为2.54亿美元。我们报告的2020年全年的实际税率为42%，其中包括《关爱法案》税收优惠1480万美元的影响。这些好处导致了超过3900万美元的退税请求，其中大部分我们预计将在2021年收到。我们目前认为，我们2021年的实际所得税率将在24%至26%之间，不包括非控股权益所得的税收影响。
Now we'll move on to a review of each of our four businesses, beginning with Trade on slide six. Trade reported pre-tax income of $28.3 million and adjusted pre-tax income of $29.3 million compared to a pre-tax loss of $19.9 million and adjusted pre-tax income of $17.6 million in the same period of 2019. Fourth quarter 2019 adjusted pre-tax income excluded approximately $40 million in asset impairment charges.
现在我们来回顾一下我们的四个业务，从第6张幻灯片的贸易开始。Trade报告的税前收入为2830万美元，调整后的税前收入为2930万美元，而2019年同期的税前亏损为1990万美元，调整后的税前收入为1760万美元。2019年第四季度调整后的税前收入不包括约4000万美元的资产减值支出。
Income from merchandising grains, feed products and all other commodities was strong compared to fourth quarter 2019 results due to increased market volatility. Strong export demand improved elevation margins across our network to levels not seen since 2014. Trade had adjusted EBITDA for the quarter of $45.8 million compared to adjusted EBITDA of $37.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year 2020, Trade recorded adjusted EBITDA of $95.5 million compared to $123.4 million for the full year of 2019.
由于市场波动加剧，与2019年第四季度相比，谷物、饲料产品和所有其他商品的销售收入强劲。强劲的出口需求使我们公司的利润率达到了2014年以来的最高水平。该季度交易调整后的息税折旧摊销前利润为4580万美元，而2019年第四季度调整后的息税折旧摊销前利润为3720万美元。2020年全年，贸易调整后的EBITDA为9550万美元，而2019年全年为1.234亿美元。
Moving to slide seven. Ethanol reported a fourth quarter pre-tax loss attributable to the company of $3.5 million compared to adjusted fourth quarter 2019 pre-tax income attributable to the company of $8.1 million. Margins were considerably lower due to increasing corn costs that were not completely offset by higher ethanol prices. Ethanol's fourth quarter results also reflect a $6.6 million noncash mark-to-market adjustment on our forward positions. As a positive, income from high-protein feed and corn oil sales as well as Ethanol trading results were higher year-over-year. Ethanol recorded EBITDA of $16.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared with $25.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.
移到第7张幻灯片。乙醇公司公布第四季度应归责于公司的税前亏损350万美元，而2019年第四季度调整后的应归责于公司的税前收入为810万美元。由于乙醇价格的上涨并没有完全抵消玉米成本的上升，玉米的利润大幅下降。乙醇的第四季度业绩也反映了660万美元的非现金对市场的调整，我们的远期头寸。好消息是，高蛋白饲料和玉米油销售以及乙醇交易的收入同比都有所增加。2020年第四季度，乙醇的EBITDA为1620万美元，而2019年第四季度为2590万美元。
Turning to slide eight. The Plant Nutrient business recorded adjusted pre-tax income of $3.2 million in the fourth quarter, down slightly from $3.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year, Plant Nutrient recorded pre-tax income of $16 million, which was nearly double the 2019 result. Volumes were up more than 20% for the quarter and 15% for the full year. Plant Nutrient's EBITDA for the quarter was $10.8 million, down slightly from the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year, adjusted EBITDA was $47.2 million, which was up 12%, primarily due to favorable weather during both the spring and fall application seasons, enabling increased fertilizer sales volumes.
转向第八张幻灯片。植物营养品业务第四季度调整后的税前收入为320万美元，略低于2019年第四季度的390万美元。该公司全年税前收入为1600万美元，几乎是2019年的两倍。本季度销量增长超过20%，全年增长15%。植物营养本季度的EBITDA为1080万美元，较2019年第四季度略有下降。全年，调整后的EBITDA为4720万美元，增长12%，主要是由于春季和秋季施用季节的良好天气，使化肥销量增加。
Turning to slide nine. The Rail business earned adjusted pre-tax income of $2 million in the fourth quarter compared with pre-tax earnings of $4.5 million last year. The year-over-year change was driven by lower income from car sales. Rail recorded adjusted EBITDA of $13.5 million for the quarter compared with EBITDA of $17.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year 2020, Rail recorded EBITDA of $55.7 million compared to $65.7 million in 2019.
转向第9张幻灯片。铁路业务第四季度调整后的税前收入为200万美元，去年同期为450万美元。这一同比变化的原因是汽车销售收入下降。铁路公司本季度调整后的EBITDA为1350万美元，而2019年第四季度的EBITDA为1760万美元。2020年全年，铁路行业的EBITDA为5570万美元，而2019年为6570万美元。
Before Pat returns for his closing remarks, I'd like to comment briefly on some of our accomplishments in generating cash, ensuring adequate liquidity, managing capital spending and reducing our long-term debt. We generated $74.6 million and $73 million in cash from operations before working capital changes during the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2019, respectively. For the full year, we produced cash from operations before working capital changes of $200.9 million and $192.6 million in 2020 and 2019, respectively.
在Pat回来作结束语之前，我想简单谈谈我们在产生现金、确保充足的流动性、管理资本支出和减少长期债务方面所取得的成就。在2020年和2019年第四季度营运资本发生变化之前，我们分别从运营中产生了7460万美元和7300万美元现金。全年，在2020年和2019年营运资本变化前，我们从运营中产生的现金分别为2.090亿美元和1.960亿美元。
Working capital, readily marketable inventory and short-term debt, each increased year-over-year, primarily due to higher commodity prices. Earlier this month, we amended our primary credit agreement to increase our short-term borrowing capacity by $250 million. These funds provide additional liquidity to support the recent and potential future increases in commodity prices. We spent $16.6 million net of proceeds from asset sales on capital projects during the fourth quarter and $86.8 million for the full year 2020, well beneath the $100 million target we set for the year.
营运资金、可随时上市的存货和短期债务均逐年增加，主要是由于商品价格上涨。本月早些时候，我们修改了我们的初级信贷协议，将我们的短期借贷能力增加2.5亿美元。这些基金提供额外的流动性，以支持近期和未来可能的大宗商品价格上涨。第四季度，我们在资本项目上投入了1660万美元的资产销售净收入，2020年全年为8680万美元，远低于我们今年设定的1亿美元目标。
By comparison, for the full year 2019, we spent more than $220 million net of proceeds from asset sales on capital projects. We expect our total 2021 capital spending to be in the range of $100 million to $125 million, with approximately 60% of that amount spent on maintenance capital. We also will continue to evaluate growth projects that require spending in excess of currently planned amounts where returns exceed our hurdle rates. Long-term debt decreased by almost $100 million during 2020. We remain focused on reducing our long-term debt by an additional $200 million to $250 million and achieving our targeted long-term debt-to-EBITDA ratio of less than 2.5 times by the end of 2023.
相比之下，2019年全年，我们在资本项目上的资产出售净收益超过2.2亿美元。我们预计2021年的总资本支出将在1亿至1.25亿美元之间，其中约60%用于维护资本。我们还将继续评估那些需要花费超过当前计划金额、回报超过预期回报率的增长项目。到2020年，长期债务减少了近1亿美元。我们仍专注于将长期债务再减少2亿美元，至2.5亿美元，并在2023年底前实现长期债务与ebitda的比率低于2.5倍的目标。
And with that, I'd now like to turn things back to Pat for some comments on his early views about 2021.
现在，我想把话题转回到帕特，让他对他关于2021年的早期观点发表一些评论。
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Thanks, Brian. We're very encouraged about how things are setting up for us in the early part of 2021. Rally in grain and other commodity prices that began at mid-November has been a blessing for ag market participants, unlike anything we've seen in a long time. Strong exports, particularly to China, have led the rally, which we think could last for some time as being driven by increases in demand. Expectations are that more corn acres will be planted in 2021, which will be good for both our Trade and Plant Nutrient segments.
谢谢你,布莱恩。2021年初的工作安排让我们深受鼓舞。从11月中旬开始的谷物和其他大宗商品价格上涨，对农业市场参与者来说是一件幸事，这是我们很长一段时间以来从未见过的。强劲的出口(尤其是对中国的出口)带动了这轮反弹，我们认为，在需求增长的推动下，这轮反弹可能会持续一段时间。预计2021年将有更多的玉米种植面积，这将有利于我们的贸易和植物营养部门。
These conditions continue to drive strong elevation margins and considerable volatility, which we welcome because it creates good merchandising opportunities for us. In addition, we are seeing excellent results in other products we merchandise such as feed ingredients and propane. Spot ethanol crush margins have fallen sharply over the last 90 days and continue to be unseasonably low. We hedged more than 1/3 of our expected first quarter gallons before year-end, which should help mitigate continued low margins during the first quarter. Our plants continue to run well at relatively low variable cost per gallon. This week's polar vortex has impacted a large portion of the country.
这些条件继续推动高利润和相当大的波动性，我们欢迎这一点，因为这为我们创造了良好的销售机会。此外，我们在其他产品，如饲料原料和丙烷中也看到了良好的效果。现货乙醇压榨利润在过去90天里急剧下降，并继续处于不合时宜的低水平。在年底前，我们对冲了超过预期的第一季度产量的三分之一，这将有助于缓解第一季度利润持续低迷的局面。我们的工厂以相对较低的每加仑可变成本继续运转良好。本周的极地涡旋影响了美国的大部分地区。
Natural gas shortages and power outages are causing curtailments to a large number of ethanol plants. This should reduce ethanol production and decrease stocks in the short term. As with the rest of the industry, we're dependent on the balance between gasoline demand and ethanol supply, but we see growth in E15 and increasing export demand as potential tailwinds later in the year. Traditional DDGs are trading well above corn values, and in addition, we're selling more higher value feed products. We're also benefiting from a sustained uptick in corn oil values, driven by increased demand for renewable diesel. And our trading platform for other renewable diesel feedstocks is growing.
天然气短缺和电力中断导致大量乙醇工厂停产。这将在短期内减少乙醇产量和库存。与其他行业一样，我们依赖于汽油需求和乙醇供应之间的平衡，但我们看到E15的增长和出口需求的增加是今年晚些时候潜在的推动力。传统的玉米酒糟粕的价格远高于玉米价值，此外，我们销售的饲料产品价值更高。受可再生柴油需求增加的推动，我们还受益于玉米油价格的持续上涨。我们的其他可再生柴油原料交易平台也在增长。
We anticipate that our Plant Nutrient business will maintain its 2020 momentum into early 2021. We also expect some improvement in sales, assuming continued higher commodity prices and another strong planting season. In our Rail business, weekly intermodal and grain car loadings were now up year-over-year. But that improvement, unfortunately, has not found its way to most other freight and tank car markets yet. Consequently, we see a flat demand picture for railcar leasing and repair services through much of 2021.
我们预计，到2021年初，我们的植物营养品业务将保持2020年的发展势头。我们还预计销售会有一些改善，前提是大宗商品价格继续走高，种植季节又会很强劲。在我们的铁路业务中，每周的多式联运和谷物车的装载量现在是同比上升的。但不幸的是，这种改善还没有在大多数其他货运和油罐车市场得到推广。因此，我们预计到2021年大部分时间，轨道汽车租赁和维修服务的需求将保持平稳。
We'll hit a milestone this year as we celebrate our 25th anniversary as a public company next week. We're excited to be ringing the closing bell for NASDAQ next Monday. We have grown into a much larger, stronger and more nimble and innovative company in the North American ag supply chain in the past 25 years. We look forward to providing extraordinary service to our customers, supporting our suppliers and communities and rewarding our employees and shareholders for many years to come.
下周，我们将庆祝上市25周年，这将是我们今年的一个里程碑。下周一，我们很兴奋地敲响了纳斯达克的收市钟。在过去的25年里，我们已经成长为一个更大、更强、更灵活和更创新的北美农业供应链公司。我们期待在未来的很多年里为我们的客户提供卓越的服务，支持我们的供应商和社区，并奖励我们的员工和股东。
With that, I'd like to hand the call back to Kevin, our operator, and we'll be happy to entertain your questions.
说到这里，我想把电话转给我们的接线员凯文，我们很乐意回答你们的问题。
Operator
操作符
[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Ben Bienvenu with Stephens Inc.
[操作说明]我们的第一个问题来自斯蒂芬斯公司的Ben Bienvenu。
Ben Bienvenu -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Ben Bienvenu - Stephens Inc.分析师
Hey, good morning Patrick. Congrats on a solid closing for the year.
早上好，帕特里克。恭喜你这一年的结束语很出色。
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Yes. Thanks, Ben.
是的。谢谢,本。
Ben Bienvenu -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Ben Bienvenu - Stephens Inc.分析师
I want to ask as it relates to the '21 outlook. You talked about, on the Trade side specifically, elevation margins as a result of the strong demand back solid merchandising opportunities. Can you help us think about weighing that very constructive backdrop against a lack of crop carry? And just kind of how you're thinking about what the setup today looks like maybe relative to what you saw three months ago and relative to 2020, if you could?
我想问的是关于21年前景的问题。你谈到了，特别是在贸易方面，由于强劲的需求而带来的利润提升，以及坚实的商品销售机会。你能帮我们权衡一下这种非常有建设性的背景和缺乏作物运输吗?你们认为今天的情况与三个月前和2020年的情况相比会是怎样的呢?
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Sure, Ben. That's a really good question. And things have changed pretty dramatically over the last year, as you guys have been following along with us as the market rally, led by primarily exports to China, have inverted the markets in corn, wheat, and beans, caused a tightness of spreads which has eliminated carry and storage income for the industry, which also incents you to push that grain out. So where loadings have been high, elevations have been high, and that's a good part of the business where you're creating margin opportunities and earning elevations, loading out grain domestically or for export.
当然,本。这是个很好的问题。大大,事情已经改变了过去一年里,因为你们已经随着我们市场反弹后,由主要出口到中国,有反向市场玉米、小麦和豆类,造成紧张的利差消灭携带和存储行业的收入,也激励你推动粮食。因此，在装载量高的地方，海拔也就高，这是一个很好的业务你在创造利润机会并赚取海拔，在国内装运谷物或用于出口。
The challenge is that, that wheat storage income, we used to rely on year-on-year over the previous years, has been gone. And so we don't have that, as we've highlighted in previous calls. But the opportunities to merchandise and trade well, as you've seen in this last quarter, by a broad array of product lines, has really contributed to the strong earnings, and we think that will continue.
挑战在于，过去几年我们依靠的小麦储存收入已经没有了。我们没有这个，就像我们在之前的通话中强调的那样。但是，正如你在上个季度所看到的，通过广泛的产品线，商品和贸易的良好机会确实促进了强劲的收益，我们认为这将继续下去。
Ben Bienvenu -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Ben Bienvenu - Stephens Inc.分析师
Okay. Great. On the capital allocation front, you guys have done a nice job reducing long-term debt. Obviously, working capital is higher with higher readily marketable inventories. But as you think about deploying capital from here, can you give us a sense of when you look at growth capex opportunities and the relative return profiles of in-house investment opportunities versus tuck-in or more meaningful M&A, what the landscape looks like of the sets of opportunities that you have?
好吧。太好了。在资本配置方面，你们在减少长期债务方面做得很好。很明显，流动资金越高，易于销售的存货就越多。但当你考虑部署资本从这里,你能给我们一种当你看资本支出增长机会和内部投资机会的相对回报概况和盛宴或更有意义的并购,景观的样子集的机会呢?
Brian A. Valentine --
布莱恩·a·瓦伦丁——
Yes, Ben. This is Brian. Great question. I would say from that perspective, it's probably a combination. I think when we think about even our trade group, there's a lot of places where we're looking at what we would call asset-light type investments that would be nice growth opportunities that would give us an opportunity to enter into some other areas. Certainly, when you think about things like renewable diesel, that's an area that we're thinking about, and there's, of course, the higher protein feed areas. And it's -- I'd say it's probably a combination. I don't necessarily see us doing a -- call it a Lansing-type acquisition at this point. But for us to look at some bolt-ons in that $50 million to $100 million range would certainly not be out of the question.
是的,本。这是布莱恩。好问题。我想说，从这个角度来看，这可能是一个组合。我认为，当我们考虑我们的贸易集团时，有很多地方我们都在考虑我们称之为轻资产型投资，这将是一个很好的增长机会，让我们有机会进入其他领域。当然，当你想到像可再生柴油这样的东西时，这是一个我们正在考虑的领域，当然，还有高蛋白饲料领域。我觉得这可能是两者的结合。我不认为我们在做一个叫lansing式的收购。但对于我们来说，在5000万至1亿美元的范围内寻找一些补充资金肯定不是不可能的。
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
And maybe I'll just build onto that, and Brian answered it perfectly. We have a solid pipeline of projects we've been working on for years. Some of those. Or as you mentioned, Ben, bolt-ons that are just expansions of existing product lines or adding a new product line to a fertilizer plant or a food ingredient plant or a new trading platform. So we have those ongoing. And I'd like to describe them as branches on the trees, as our two verticals, our fertilizer and grain business. And of those two verticals, we have lots of branches we can add on to those trees.
也许我会在此基础上继续，布莱恩回答得很好。我们有一个坚实的管道项目，我们已经工作多年。其中的一些。或者像你提到的，本，补充就是对现有产品线的扩展或者为化肥工厂或者食品配料工厂增加一条新的产品线或者一个新的交易平台。所以我们正在进行。我想把它们描述成树上的树枝，我们的两个垂直业务，化肥和谷物业务。在这两个垂直的领域中，我们有很多分支可以添加到这些树上。
And we are looking to continue to do that. It helps us have a broader portfolio of margin opportunities. And we're probably looking at some of those areas that relate to what's on trend from a -- what's in trend on the food side and what's in trend from an environmental sustainability side. And a lot of those factors are product lines we're interested in investing in.
我们希望继续这样做。它帮助我们获得更广泛的利润机会。我们可能在看一些与趋势相关的领域，从食物方面的趋势以及从环境可持续性方面的趋势。很多因素都是我们有兴趣投资的产品线。
Ben Bienvenu -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Ben Bienvenu - Stephens Inc.分析师
Okay. Great. Well, thank you and best of luck with the start of the year.
好吧。太好了。谢谢你，祝你新年伊始好运。
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Operator
操作符
Our next question comes from Ken Zaslow with Bank of Montreal.
下一个问题来自蒙特利尔银行的Ken Zaslow。
Ken Zaslow -- Bank of Montreal -- Analyst
肯·萨斯洛，蒙特利尔银行分析师
Hey John, I guess it's a good way to go out. So I'll say that. Good luck.
嘿，约翰，我想这是出去的好办法。我会这么说。祝你好运。
John Kraus --
约翰·克劳斯——
Ken Zaslow -- Bank of Montreal -- Analyst
肯·萨斯洛，蒙特利尔银行分析师
A couple of questions. First is on the trading of vegetable oils as well as the co-products, cornfield, all that stuff, how much profitability does that add? How do we contextualize that in terms of the outlook? Is this a needle-mover? Is it a marginal? How do I think about this going forward? Just because I think it's a real opportunity. I just can't figure out how to size it.
几个问题。首先是植物油以及副产品，玉米田，所有这些的交易，这能增加多少利润?我们如何将其与前景联系起来?这是一台针线机吗?它是边际的吗?我对未来有什么看法?因为我觉得这是个好机会。(我就是想不出怎么确定它的大小。)
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Yes. You're right on with that, Ken, is that we think long term, it's a needle-mover, but short term, not so. We've been positive in earnings, but they're not big enough to call it a needle-mover near term. Now the increase in corn oil value, because that just shows up in our crush margin, right, so that's a nice benefit to ethanol in general, and that's been a good play for us to direct our corn oil to the renewable diesel market.
是的。你说得对，肯，我们从长远来看，这是一种短期行动，但不是。我们的收益一直是积极的，但它们还没有大到可以称之为短期内的针尖移动。现在玉米油的价值增加了，因为这体现在我们的压榨利润中，这对乙醇来说是一个很好的好处，这对我们将玉米油导向可再生柴油市场是一个很好的选择。
We set up this trading desk earlier in the year, have some very experienced merchants on that and look forward to opportunities to grow it. It's profitable and doing well to start-up, but I'd say not a needle-mover today, but we're building sort of the foundation to have a pretty good business there as we look forward going forward.
我们在今年早些时候设立了这个交易平台，有一些非常有经验的商人在上面，我们期待着机会来发展它。它是有利可图的，在起步阶段也做得很好，但我想说的是，在今天，我们并不是一蹴而就的，我们正在建立一个良好的基础，在我们展望未来的时候，有一个很好的业务。
Ken Zaslow -- Bank of Montreal -- Analyst
肯·萨斯洛，蒙特利尔银行分析师
Okay. And then in terms of the Trade and Grain group, when you envision it -- again, I just wanted to clarify. When you thought about it, obviously, you don't have the elevation -- the forward market on the wheat, the carry on the wheat, but on the flip side, you have more on the elevation and grade on the product in corn. Does that offset it? And would you say that it's in the same position that you would have thought it was? Would it be better or worse? I get the sense, it seems like it's more -- it's better than what you would have thought it was, even excluding the wheat carry.
好吧。然后就贸易和粮食集团而言，当你想象它的时候，我只是想澄清一下。当你想到它时,显然,你没有高程,小麦的期货市场,进行小麦,但另一方面,你有更多的产品在玉米上的高程与品位。这抵消了吗?你认为它的位置和你想的是一样的吗?会更好还是更糟?我能感觉到，它似乎比你想象的要更好，甚至不包括小麦交易。
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Yes. I think you got it right on there. So elevations have stayed high, and we think that's going to continue. We've also had good volatility that creates merchandising opportunities in the interior, even disruptions like this week with weather. You got to move around that and make things happen. So we like that kind of volatility in the market. We understand with these inverted markets, we don't see any big change in carry until we get another crop. So that's kind of -- that stays with you for the year, but the good news is the merchandising is -- more than offset that, and it feels like that's going to stay for a while.
是的。我觉得你说的很对。所以海拔一直很高，我们认为这种情况还会继续下去。我们也有良好的波动，这在内地创造了销售机会，甚至像本周天气的中断。你得绕着它转，让事情发生。所以我们喜欢市场的这种波动。我们明白，在这些倒置的市场中，我们不会看到利差有任何大的变化，直到我们看到另一轮的丰收。这种情况会持续一整年，但好消息是，商品销售会抵消这种情况，而且这种情况还会持续一段时间。
Ken Zaslow -- Bank of Montreal -- Analyst
肯·萨斯洛，蒙特利尔银行分析师
Okay. And then my final question is, when I think about the ethanol side as well, when you put it all together, I know there was a $300 million EBITDA bogey. Does that still seem attainable even though ethanol is a little bit lighter, but the grain is still better? Is that kind of -- so kind of a squishy balloon where it all comes out roughly around there anyway? Is that how to think about it?
好吧。最后一个问题是，考虑乙醇方面，综合起来，我知道EBITDA是3亿美元。即使乙醇更轻一些，但谷物更好，我们还能做到吗?这是一种黏糊糊的气球它大概都从这里出来?是这样想的吗?
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Yes. I wish the balloon squished that easy. But let's go back to -- we first set the goal in 2017 in December. That was our first Investor Day, when I stated we have a $300 million run rate end of 2020 goal. And at that time that, that was kind of bold and aggressive. The good news was our EBITDA went from $157 million in 2017, up to $177 million in '18, and to $254 million in '19. But then it dipped this year as we just finished the year at $226 million. COVID and the impact of COVID on ethanol demand really hurt us this year.
是的。真希望气球能这么容易压扁。但是让我们回到——我们在2017年12月第一次设定了这个目标。那是我们的第一个投资日，我说到2020年底，我们的目标是3亿美元。在当时，这是一种大胆和激进的做法。好消息是，我们的息税折旧摊销前利润从2017年的1.57亿美元，到2018年达到1.77亿美元，到2019年达到2.54亿美元。但是今年它下降了，因为我们刚刚结束了这一年，只有2。26亿美元。COVID - 19和COVID - 19对乙醇需求的影响今年真的伤害了我们。
It was a cost of $40 million swing in earnings versus '19 in ethanol, and with a $25 million loss for the year. So when we started December and we stated at our December Investor Day, we said $300 million could be possible only if we see a dramatic improvement in ethanol turnaround in 2021. The bad news is first quarter, crush margins, as you know, have been negative and are starting out pretty tough. So that makes it harder to get a full rebound in earnings this year to reach that target.
与乙醇燃料的19美元相比，它的成本上升了4000万美元，全年亏损2500万美元。因此，当我们从12月开始，在12月的投资日，我们说过，只有在2021年我们看到乙醇周转的显著改善，3亿美元才有可能实现。坏消息是，第一季度，压榨利润率，正如你所知道的，一直是负值，而且开始时相当艰难。因此，今年要实现盈利的全面反弹以实现这一目标就更难了。
Ken Zaslow -- Bank of Montreal -- Analyst
肯·萨斯洛，蒙特利尔银行分析师
Great. I really appreciate it, and good luck.
太好了。非常感谢，祝你好运。
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Thank you, Ken.
谢谢你,肯。
Operator
操作符
Our next question comes from Eric Larson with Seaport Global.
下一个问题来自Seaport Global的Eric Larson。
Eric Larson -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
Eric Larson, Seaport Global，分析师
Yeah, thanks to everyone. Congratulations, John, and best of luck going forward, and nice quarter, everybody. So just to push back a little bit on Ken's question as well. I certainly understand the volatility that is really going to help you. We know the elevation margins are really good, but will we need to see a change in the inverse futures curve with new crop to really give you a good positive increase in trade earnings this year?
是的，谢谢大家。恭喜你，约翰，祝你在接下来的日子里好运。我们再来回顾一下Ken的问题。我当然理解市场的波动，这对你很有帮助。我们知道高差真的很好，但我们需要看到随着新作物的出现，反向期货曲线发生变化，才能让今年的贸易收益真正出现良好的正增长吗?
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Yes. I think you know, well, Eric, I think that we've seen the merchandising opportunities and the margins we've been making on all the product lines we're trading -- we're pretty optimistic for that to continue throughout '21. So that feels good. We mentioned that -- I don't see the inverse softening until we ever really have a good handle on what new crop looks like. What was a big plan in acreage number, it could be a potential to get that to happen by the end of the year, but that will happen pretty late in the year, as you know. So that won't have that much of a dramatic impact on '21 until late fourth quarter as far as widening carries and capturing storage income.
是的。我想你知道，好吧，埃里克，我想我们已经看到了我们交易的所有产品线的销售机会和利润——我们非常乐观地认为这将在21年持续下去。这感觉很好。我们提到过，直到我们真正掌握了新作物的样子，我才会看到逆软化。这是一个很大的计划，有可能在今年年底实现，但这将在今年晚些时候实现，你知道的。因此，就扩大运输和获取存储收入而言，直到第四季度末才会对21年产生那么大的影响。
Eric Larson -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
Eric Larson, Seaport Global，分析师
Yes. I would expect that might be more of a carryover into fiscal -- into 2022.
是的。我认为，这可能更像是一种财政上的结转——到2022年。
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Into 2022, yes. Correct.
到2022年,是的。正确的。
Eric Larson -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
Eric Larson, Seaport Global，分析师
Yes. Okay. And then my next question is on Rail. That business is obviously -- is kind of maybe bouncing along the bottom here. I mean I think you were pretty conservative on how you're looking at it for 2021. What could happen there that might improve the outlook for Rail?
是的。好吧。我的下一个问题是轨道。很明显，这个业务在底部反弹。我的意思是，我认为你对2021年的看法相当保守。那里会发生什么事情来改善铁路的前景?
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Yes. So we've had -- we have good movements in grain, which is nice for our business, and intermodal has picked up. But relatively without seeing a really good recovery. So a widespread COVID economic recovery package and booms in other segments, including chemicals and plastics and housing and other things that could get the overall economy moving, could really help car movement and utilization rates. What also has helped a little bit is scrap metal prices have rallied.
是的。所以我们在粮食上有了很好的变化，这对我们的生意很好，多式联运已经开始。但相对而言，还没有看到真正的良好复苏。因此，广泛的COVID - 19经济复苏一揽子计划和其他领域的繁荣，包括化学品、塑料、住房和其他可以推动整体经济的东西，可以真正帮助汽车的流通和利用率。废金属价格的上涨也有一点帮助。
So scrapping -- we've scrapped some cars here, and so that helps the size of the fleet for the entire market a little bit. But having said that, again, it's just -- we always say Rails slow up, slow down, so it's hard to get that movement quickly in 2021. So we've been seeing kind of a flat outlook, which feels right, but by the end of the year, you could see -- like we agree with you. We think we've hit bottom, but to see it really pick up, if anything, would be late in the year if that were to occur.
所以报废——我们在这里报废了一些车，这对整个市场的车队规模有所帮助。但话虽如此，我们总是说铁轨会变慢，所以很难在2021年迅速移动。所以我们看到了一种平稳的前景，这感觉不错，但到年底，你会看到，我们同意你的看法。我们认为我们已经触底，但如果真能看到回升的话，也要等到今年晚些时候。
Eric Larson -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
Eric Larson, Seaport Global，分析师
Okay. Then the final question, and I'll pass it on. The setup for Plant Nutrient this year is really good. Obviously, we've got really good crop prices. Farmers are going to spend the money to maximize yields. We're going to see some acreage increases, but you didn't really talk that much about margins. I suspect that we could get back to some margins that we had in the 2011, '12, '13 time frame, maybe '14 time frame. Would that coincide with your thinking as well?
好吧。然后是最后一个问题，我会把它传递下去。今年的植物营养设置很好。显然，我们的农作物价格很好。农民们会把钱花在最大化产量上。我们将看到一些种植面积的增加，但你并没有过多地谈论利润。我认为，我们可能会回到2011年、2012年、13年或14年的利润水平。这和你的想法一致吗?
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
I think I'd be probably on the optimistic side. And the problem is we just don't know because we've seen such a strong rally in fertilizer materials here in the last 90 days. So yes, we've had a big increase in farmer income and in commodity prices, which sets up really nice for fertilizer, but fertilizer prices have really spiked. Great for our suppliers to finally see a nice price increase. But I think the big thing going into this winter here will be the tightness of supply and making sure you can get supply and capture margin and then that you can be able to have the right volumes and right position. We feel good about that.
我想我可能会比较乐观。问题是我们不知道，因为在过去的90天里，我们已经看到化肥原料价格强劲上涨。所以，是的，我们的农民收入和商品价格有了很大的增长，这对化肥很有利，但化肥的价格确实飙升了。很高兴我们的供应商终于看到了一个不错的价格上涨。但我认为今年冬天的大问题将是供应紧张，确保你能获得供应并赚取利润，然后你就能拥有正确的数量和位置。我们对此感觉很好。
I'm a little bit concerned about some of the value-added stuff. Even though farmer income is higher and crop inputs are higher, so are the raw material inputs for those products, which have really spiked. So we're not maybe runaway bullish on fertilizer margins. I feel that we'll be solid. And we do feel we should have a solid volume year. We might have pulled a little bit forward in this year because we have such a good fall season, that we'll wait to see how that outlook is. But bottom line fundamentals, as you said, are set up really well for fertilizer. And we'll be updating that margin outlook as we go through the year.
我有点担心一些增值的东西。尽管农民收入增加了，农作物投入也增加了，但这些产品的原材料投入也增加了。因此，我们可能不会过分看好化肥利润率。我觉得我们会很稳固的。我们觉得今年的销量应该会很稳定。今年我们可能会提前一点，因为我们有这么好的秋季，我们将拭目以待前景如何。但正如你说的，最基本的原则，对于肥料来说是很好的。我们将在今年更新利润前景。
Eric Larson -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
Eric Larson, Seaport Global，分析师
Can you quickly comment on where you think the inventories are in the distributor network for fertilizers? I recall back a number of years ago, The Andersons was actually way too long in their inventory level. Where are you with -- I know it's mostly a pass-through business, but have you bought forward at all for your inventories for spring sales for fertilizer?
您能快速地评论一下您认为化肥分销网络中的库存在哪里吗?我回想起几年前，安德森一家的存货水平实在是太长了。你在做什么，我知道这基本上是一项转帐业务，但你有没有提前准备好肥料春季销售的库存?
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
So simple answer to you is one word is tight. So the marketplace is very tight with shipments, and it varies by product type. But we normally make a pretty good program ahead of schedule with our key suppliers, and we expect that to run normally. So we don't have any -- but if you wanted to get really long today, you wouldn't be able to just because the availability is so tight you wouldn't be able to add much additional volume. So the answer is it's going to be a tight supply and demand season for fertilizer and a good rebound in fertilizer values.
所以简单的回答你就是一个字紧。因此，市场上的出货量非常紧张，而不同的产品类型也有不同。但我们通常会与主要供应商提前完成相当好的项目，我们希望这能正常运行。所以我们没有任何。但是如果你今天想要很长时间，你不能仅仅因为可用性很紧张你不能增加更多的额外容量。因此，答案是，这将是一个化肥供求紧张的季节，化肥价值将出现良好的反弹。
Eric Larson -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
Eric Larson, Seaport Global，分析师
Yes. No, I would have assumed that if you were going to do that, you'd have had to anticipated that in your fourth quarter. So OK. Thanks, and I'll pass it on.
是的。不，我认为如果你要这么做，你就必须在第四季度进行预期。好了。谢谢，我会转告你的。
Operator
操作符
Our next question comes from Ben Klieve with National Securities.
我们的下一个问题来自国家安全局的Ben Klieve。
Ben Klieve -- National Securities -- Analyst
本·克里夫，国家证券分析师
Excuse me. All right. Thanks for taking my question. Before I ask, I got cut off for a few minutes here, Brian, during your comments. So if I'm making you guys repeat the stuff, I apologize. But a couple of questions around the Ethanol business in the context of the immediate effects of the weather event that you discussed plus the just general state of the industry. How do those variables make you think about your maintenance schedule coming up here in the spring? Should we expect a material shutdown? Or is this going to be kind of a return back to normal maintenance that you saw in 2019 and prior?
原谅我。好吧。谢谢你回答我的问题。在我问之前，我被打断了几分钟，布莱恩，在你评论的时候。所以如果我让你们重复那些东西，我道歉。但是有几个关于乙醇产业的问题在你讨论的天气事件的直接影响和产业的一般状态的背景下。这些变量是如何让你考虑春季的维护计划的?我们应该预料到材料的关闭吗?或者这将是一种回归到你在2019年和之前看到的正常维护?
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Yes. I guess the good news of being around the Ethanol business for about 25 years, we've seen some pretty cold winters. And also if you scrimp on your maintenance shutdowns, it always cost you later. So we are going to be very prudent about our maintenance shutdowns and get those done on schedule as planned this spring. The interesting thing will be how do industry participants handle that this year with softer margins. Will they extend shutdowns longer or not depending on their grain positions? I think that remains to be seen.
是的。我想在乙醇行业工作了25年的好消息是，我们经历了一些相当寒冷的冬天。而且，如果你在维修停运上精打细算，以后也会花很多钱。因此，我们将非常谨慎地进行维护停机，并在今年春天按计划完成这些工作。有趣的是，今年在利润率下降的情况下，行业参与者将如何应对这种情况。他们是否会延长停产时间取决于他们的粮食头寸?我认为这还有待观察。
Your first point was -- and I brought up about the polar vortex in my comments, and many of you are like us that are buried in snow and cold the last couple of days. That we had a curtailment at our one plant, our new plant, ELEMENT, in Kansas. We've had a natural gas curtailment, and that is pretty common in a lot of the Western states in Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, etc. We feel good. All our other plants, we bought firm power supply here in the winter months, so we're in good position. There's a considerable number of plants that are either idled or we'll have to shut potentially because of curtailments it looks like, but it's going to be pretty short-lived.
你的第一个观点是——我在评论中提到了极地涡旋，你们中的许多人和我们一样，在过去的几天里被大雪和寒冷所掩埋。我们在堪萨斯州的新工厂ELEMENT进行了减产。我们已经减少了天然气供应，这在德克萨斯州、堪萨斯州、内布拉斯加州等西部的许多州都很常见。我们感觉很好。我们其他的工厂，在冬天的几个月里，我们在这里买了稳固的电力供应，所以我们处于有利地位。有相当多的工厂要么处于闲置状态，要么因为减产而不得不关闭，但这将是相当短暂的。
It looks like this weather snap is really just this week, and that will make some lesser production and maybe lesser stocks. But I think that is really a short-term item, and it's really what do we see on the longer-term outlook for supply and demand that's important.
看起来这次天气骤变就在这周，这将导致产量减少，库存可能也会减少。但我认为这只是短期问题，而我们所看到的长期供需前景才是重要的。
Ben Klieve -- National Securities -- Analyst
本·克里夫，国家证券分析师
Got it. Very good. Thank you. And I guess my -- you kind of touched on my other question, but curious about kind of the status of the ELEMENT plant here that continues to move toward being fully productive and fully integrated. Any updates on the outlook for that plant here over the next couple of quarters.
明白了。很好。谢谢你！我想，你有点触及到我的另一个问题了，但是好奇的是元素工厂的状态它继续向充分生产和充分整合的方向发展。在接下来的几个季度里，这家工厂的前景有什么新进展吗?
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Sure. The timing of this cold snap didn't help us. So be candid, because we're working on our approval run for California, and you have to have a 90-day period for that. But we're feeling good about -- the plant's been running. We're in the -- starting the trial for the California Air Resources Board, the LCFS program. We think we could be CARB certified by later in the summer, by end of July or so. We'll kind of see how this delay goes right now. But all things being equal, we have pretty high corn prices, but we also have really good feed prices there, and we just need to get the plant lined out with California approval. That's a big step.
确定。这次寒流的时机对我们没有帮助。所以坦率地说，因为我们正在为加州的审批工作做准备，你必须有90天的期限。但我们感觉很好，工厂一直在运转。我们正在为加州空气资源委员会，LCFS项目进行试验。我们认为我们可以在夏天晚些时候获得碳水化合物认证，在7月底左右。我们现在就来看看延迟是怎么回事。但在所有条件都相同的情况下，我们的玉米价格很高，但我们也有很好的饲料价格，我们只需要让工厂得到加州的批准。这是一大步。
Ben Klieve -- National Securities -- Analyst
本·克里夫，国家证券分析师
Perfect. Very good. Well, best of luck navigating with these dynamics, and thanks for taking my question. I'll get back in queue.
完美的。很好。好吧，祝你在这些动态中航行顺利，谢谢你回答我的问题。我再去排队。
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Operator
操作符
And I'm actually not showing any further questions at this time.
现在我不会再提任何问题了。
John Kraus --
约翰·克劳斯——
Okay. Thanks, Kevin. We want to thank you all for joining us this morning. I also want to mention again that this presentation and slides with additional supporting information are available on the Investors page of our website at andersonsinc.com. Our next earnings conference call is scheduled for Wednesday, May 5, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, where we will review our first quarter 2021 results. I hope you will join Pat, Brian and Mike again at that time. It's been pleasure to serve you. Until then, be well.
好吧。谢谢你,凯文。我们要感谢大家今天早上的到来。我还想再提一下，这个演示和幻灯片以及附加的支持信息都可以在我们的网站andersonsinc.com的投资者页面找到。我们的下一次业绩电话会议定于2021年5月5日，周三上午11点。东部时间，我们将回顾2021年第一季度的业绩。我希望到时候你能再次加入派特、布莱恩和迈克的行列。很高兴为您服务。在那之前，保重。
Operator
操作符
John Kraus --
约翰·克劳斯——
Patrick E. Bowe --
鲍威——
Brian A. Valentine --
布莱恩·a·瓦伦丁——
Ben Bienvenu -- Stephens Inc. -- Analyst
Ben Bienvenu - Stephens Inc.分析师
Ken Zaslow -- Bank of Montreal -- Analyst
肯·萨斯洛，蒙特利尔银行分析师
Eric Larson -- Seaport Global -- Analyst
Eric Larson, Seaport Global，分析师
Ben Klieve -- National Securities -- Analyst
本·克里夫，国家证券分析师
More ANDE analysis
更安德的分析
