Olymel announced that it will close its plant in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.
The facility is used primarily to process poultry products, but a few pork products are also processed there.
The company said the decision to close the plant “comes against a backdrop of falling production volumes, which has led the plant to operate at only 40% of its operational capacity. Once the facility closes, the capacity processed there will be redeployed to other company plants.
The planned closure date has been set for July 19, giving workers a 13-week notice period. The closure will affect 135 employees, including 30 employees with temporary foreign worker status.
Olymel will soon be implementing a relocation plan to enable Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu employees the option to relocate to other company plants with labor needs. Concerning the plant workers with temporary foreign worker status, Olymel will take steps with federal and provincial authorities to enable them to apply for relocation to other Olymel facilities.
This decision comes after Olymel parent company Sollio Cooperative Group reported a return to profitability for the 2023 fiscal year, rebounding from a net loss of CA$336.9 million (US$245.25 million) in fiscal year 2022. In an effort to return to profitability, Sollio Cooperative had announced numerous closures within its Olymel operations. Those included five sow units in Alberta, one sow unit in Saskatchewan, a hog slaughtering and cutting plant in Quebec, a pork processing plant in Quebec and three pork further processing plants in Quebec.
Sollio Cooperative is a Canadian co-operative involved in agriculture and meat processing, as well as hardware, machinery and the energy sector. The company slaughtered 150 million broilers during the past year.
