ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, U.S. — Net income at CHS Inc. in the first half of 2019 ended Feb. 28 increased to $596.3 million, which compared with $353.7 million from the restated half of fiscal 2018. Revenue for the second quarter decreased to $6.5 billion, down from $7 billion from the restated second quarter of the fiscal year 2018.

“The first six months of our fiscal year have returned overall good financial results,” said Jay Debertin, president and chief executive officer. “But we face challenges, particularly in our Ag segment. These challenges of low commodity prices, trade difficulties and harsh winter weather impact all of agriculture, especially farmers. As we look to the rest of our fiscal year, we know there are factors such as the recent flooding we cannot control that will continue to affect agribusiness and those growing the food to feed the world.”

The Ag segment, which includes domestic and global grain marketing and crop nutrients, renewable fuels, local retail operations, and processing and food ingredients businesses, generated pretax income of $17.9 million in the first half of 2019, down from $21.6 million in the restated first half of fiscal 2018.

In the second quarter, the co-op’s Corporate and Other segment saw a pretax increase of $4.2 million while the first half net income was $34.4 million, up from $10.4 million in the previous period of fiscal 2018.

The company attributed the gain to “higher earnings from the company's investment in Ventura Foods and increased revenue from other corporate activities.”

The Energy segment’s pretax income for the first half of 2019 was $539.1 million, up significantly from $144.9 million in the restated first half of fiscal 2018.

CHS noted the improved market conditions in the CHS refined fuels business primarily was driven by favorable pricing on heavy Canadian crude oil.

“Our strong performance in the second quarter reflects our hard work at serving our owners and other customers better,” Debertin said. “We’ve refocused on serving our customers and improving our operations, and that has shown positive results in our financials for the first half of fiscal 2019. Our performance also reflects the benefit of a diverse platform across business units that serves our cooperative and farmer-owners.”