HyLife’s Neepawa investment could total $95 million

Details

Published on Thursday, October 20, 2016

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

Construction is set to begin on a 130,000 square foot expansion to Neepawa’s HyLife Foods. Owned by La Broquerie-based HyLife, the upgrades to the pork processing plant are part of a $125 million company-wide investment plan announced last week.

The Neepawa plant expansion, which is expected to cost between $90 and $95 million, will focus on the cut floor, as well as packaging and shipping areas. They will also invest in new technologies and processes to improve productivity and yields, as well as increasing shelf life. 

HyLife president, Claude Vielfaure, said that once the expansion is complete, they are expecting to move to a full double shift and the ability to process 1.9 million hogs a year. Between 85 and 90 new jobs will be created in Neepawa as a result. “It’s a tremendous announcement. It shows the sustainability of the facility here in Neepawa,” said Neepawa mayor Adrian de Groot.

Construction is expected to begin this fall and take about two years. Vielfaure said that the project will go up for tender and at this point, it’s unclear who will be doing the work. He added that he hopes they will be able to use local contractors.

‘Good news story’

For Neepawa, the expansion isn’t just about jobs, explained de Groot, “When [Town Council and administration] found out about it, we were very supportive of the management. One of the things that I did convey to our local management is the level of commitment that they have towards Manitoba, as well as the level of commitment and the energy that their management staff put into the town of Neepawa itself. There’s a lot of people, a lot of spinoffs, a lot of organizations that benefit from that involvement. So, it’s not only jobs. It’s really property taxes and things like that. It also creates a much more viable community, that everyone enjoys.”

Agassiz MLA Eileen Clarke is pleased with the announcement, “It’s really exciting that they are expanding not just in Neepawa, but also in the province.  This is a major company to our province.” She added that within the Agassiz constituency, the company is one of the largest private employers and the investment shows a strong commitment to the region. She added that the company has provided a way for rural Manitobans to obtain good paying, solid jobs. 

Additionally, Clarke said that HyLife and the provincial government have been working with the federal government to create meat cutting training opportunities in Sandy Bay First Nation. She explained that this program will help a large population learn an in-demand trade, without having to leave their own community. 

Overall, she explained, “This is a good news story.”

For Clarke, the expansion is something she hopes to see more of across the province, “We want to be a business-friendly province… The provincial government supports business expansion and creation.” 

For Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa MP Robert Sopuck, it’s a chance to see the end result of ground work laid five years ago. In 2011, on behalf of the Conservative government, Sopuck presented a $10 million repayable investment in the plant through the Slaughter Improvement Program. The investment was used to enhance Hylife Foods' production capacity in order to be better positioned to take advantage of growth opportunities. “I was proud to be a part of the previous Conservative government that understood the importance of the livestock industry to our local and national economy,” said Sopuck. “We made strategic investments in the red meat industry that enhanced the competitiveness of Canada's livestock sector, which helped lead to HyLife being a major contributor to the growth and development of rural Manitoba ncommunities.”

“This is absolutely great news for the town of Neepawa, the surrounding area and Manitoba as a whole,” said Sopuck. “I would like to thank HyLife for their continued investment in this facility and in our region. Investments from companies like this are critical to the growth of rural communities through the creation of good, full time jobs.”

 Sopuck explained that he is a strong supporter of animal agriculture and is very happy to see value added agriculture grow and help repopulate rural communities. “I was quite taken with HyLife’s ability to produce high quality product and market it internationally,” he explained. He also praised the company’s ability to innovate through the creation of associated businesses, such as the Tokyo restaurant.

While Sopuck praised the good work the Liberal government has done in some areas of agricultural exports, notably the trade dispute over canola, the Conservative MP stressed the need for the federal government to progress with trade deals and set a tone that’s supportive of international trade. “We need the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) ratified in order to cement access… We need trade agreements to market products,” he explained.

Growing sales in Asia

Growing sales in the Asian market are driving HyLife’s plan to modernize and expand the company’s integrated pork production system. In order to support this growth and better meet international competitive pressure, the company is not only reinvesting in their processing facility, but also plans to construct new finishing barns and a feed mill. Vielfaure said that the location for the barns hasn’t yet been decided, but with a moratorium on new construction in place in the south-eastern part of the province, it will likely be somewhere in the south-west of the province.

The vertically integrated company owns feed mills, genetics laboratories and barns as well as the Neepawa  processing plant, which allows them to control all aspects of production and better target value added markets, such as those in Japan.

The Japanese market has become an important part of the company’s operations.  Since entering the Japanese market in 2010, HyLife has grown to become Canada’s number one fresh chilled pork exporter to Japan, generating $200 million worth of annual sales into that market. “HyLife’s investment into growing our Japanese and Chinese markets has been very rewarding and is sending the signal that we can do more,” Vielfaure explained. 

Producing a product for this market of knowledgable consumers has been a priority for the company. Vielfaure explained, “Japanese consumers understand the quality of pork better than those in any other country… HyLife has taken that unique Japanese consumer demand for its domestic pork and worked tirelessly to recreate this taste profile at home in our integrated production and processing system.”  

The company also recently opened a restaurant in the trendy Daikanyama district of Tokyo, to further highlight the quality and taste profile of the company’s products. Vielfaure said that effort has resulted in a strong and growing base of Japanese consumers who regularly seek the company’s products, which are raised and processed in Manitoba. In Japan, unlike in Canada, customers are able to purchase pork branded with the HyLife name.

The company is also growing its presence in the Chinese market. Since entering that market in 2008, the company has grossed $80 million in sales. In September, while in China with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, they also announced a new contract with the Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com.

Once complete, the expansion will add up to 165 new jobs throughout the company, bringing HyLife’s total workforce up to 2,000 employees. 

– With files from Eoin Devereux