Olymel to close pork further processing plant

Olymel will permanently close its pork further processing plant in Henryville, Quebec, effective November 12.

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(Griszka Niewidadomski | Freeimages.com)
(Griszka Niewidadomski | Freeimages.com)

Olymel will permanently close its pork further processing plant in Henryville, Quebec, effective November 12.

"Closing a facility is always a difficult decision. However, after careful evaluation of our capacities and needs in this production sector, we have concluded that the company already has the necessary facilities elsewhere to meet our customers' demand. The costs associated with continuing the Henryville plant's current operations would not have allowed this facility to achieve profitability. Olymel hopes that all 29 Henryville plant employees affected by the closure will be able to remain with the company in its other facilities in the region, and we'll do everything to make this happen," Réjean Nadeau, president and CEO of Olymel, stated in a press release.

The Henryville facility had been part of Olymel’s operations since January 2020, when Olymel’s parent company, Sollio Cooperative, formerly known as La Coop federee, acquired the assets of F. Menard. Also included in that deal was a pork slaughtering, cutting and deboning plant in Ange-Gardien, and a pork product facility in St-Jean-sur-Rickelieu, two specialized butcher shops, two feed mills, and grain storage and drying facilities.

Presently, there are 29 people employed at the Henryville facility, and those people were all notified of the decision to close on September 15 through a personalized letter and a meeting. All those impacted by the closure will be offered the opportunity to be relocated to nearby Olymel facilities in the Montérégie region.

The announcement was made just five days after Olymel announced that it is starting a second slaughter shift at its Ange-Gardien plant. That plant recently underwent a CA$3 million (US$2.4 million) renovation. The addition of the shift has resulted in the creation of 150 new jobs.

The Henryville plant, which has been in operation since 2011, is currently being evaluated, and the company will soon make a decision on the future the facility’s buildings.

Another Olymel pork plant, in Vallée-Jonction, Quebec, recently resumed operations following a four-month-long worker strike.  

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