Archer-Daniels-Midland on Tuesday said it is in the process of restarting operations at its corn plant in the explosion-hit Decatur, Illinois facility and expects to resume normal operation levels in the coming days.
The company's massive Decatur facility was hit by an explosion and fire on Sunday injuring several of its employees. ADM also said the explosion significantly impacted its raw material production capabilities, but there was no damage to protein production area of the plant.
The company said it was able to source raw materials from alternative facilities and expects to restart the majority of protein production at the facility in the coming weeks. A plant that crushes soybeans into soybean oil and white flake for soy protein production was also down on Monday, the company had earlier said.
The explosion resulted in eight workers being injured out of which six were hospitalized at that time. Four of the employees continued to remain in hospital as of Tuesday. The company said it continues to investigate the cause of the explosion.
Decatur site, ADM's North American headquarters and its largest facility globally, houses soybean crushing facilities and one of the largest corn wet mills in the world.
Reporting by Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Stephen Coates