Poultry and pork processor Olymel plans to close a meat facility in its home market of Canada because of falling production volumes.
The shuttering of the site in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, which mainly processes poultry but also pork products, will affect all 135 employees at the factory. The plant will cease operations on 19 July, Olymel said.
“This decision comes against a backdrop of falling production volumes, which has led the plant to operate at only 40% of its operational capacity,” Olymel added in a statement.
Yanick Gervais, the meat producer’s CEO, said the decision “is part of a major shift in production volumes and a situation of significant overcapacity at the plant”.
Last November, Olymel announced that it would create a “strategic centre” in Boucherville, where it will move its headquarters in the coming months.
The company said that move was part of an optimisation project in its distribution sector and administrative activities.
Olymel said the initiative will “allow the company to strengthen its business model and improve its performance in order to maintain its position as a Canadian leader in the industry production, processing and marketing of pork and poultry meat”.
At the time, the company said it did not foresee any job losses from the process.
Last September, the food producer announced the closure of the fifth plant in ten months, including the poultry processing site in Paris, Ontario.
In January, Olymel confirmed a round of job cuts, at its Red Deer plant in Alberta.
The pork and poultry processor said some 100 employees at that facility would be laid off.
In terms of the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu closure, the meat business said it will redeploy the rest of the production capacity to other Olymel plants in the area.
Affected workers will be offered employment opportunities at the company's other sites, namely Saint-Damase, the Unidindon plant in Saint-Jean-Baptiste, or the distribution centres in Ange-Gardien or Boucherville.
Gervais said: “Other Olymel facilities located nearby, where we have residual capacity, will be able to handle these volumes with a view to achieving savings and efficiency gains.
“We are aware of the value and expertise of our employees at the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu plant, and we are determined to keep as many of them as possible within the Olymel family.”
The Saint-Hyacinthe-headquartered company has other production and processing facilities in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. It employs over 12,000 people. It has annual sales of approximately C$4.5bn ($3.28bn).
The company markets its products mainly under brand names such as Olymel, Lafleur, Flamingo, La Fernandière and others.
