The ongoing issues with packing capacity at plants throughout Canada during the pandemic, has raised the issue of why Canada doesn't have additional plants.
A Cargill plant in Ontario along with the Cargill plant south of Calgary and the JBS plant near Brooks, combined, handle the lion's share of beef processed in this country. The other 20 percent is processed by much smaller firms scattered across the nation.
Manitoba cattle producer Ian Aitken remarked in an interview with Neil Brillnger, this current situation has created the perfect storm. "It really is shocking and really a dangerous position that we are in, and this just highlights that. The fact that three plants and two companies essentially have 95% of the slaughter capacity is really a precarious position to have got ourselves into. There is not adequate competition at the producer level when producers go to sell cattle. You've got two companies in the country essentially bidding for them." Aitken goes on to say that you need at least ten buyers there is not enough competition. "It is yet to see how deep the repercussions to this are but I would anticipate that they are significant. I would anticipate there is several hundred dollars per head loss going to be encountered on cattle throughout the chain."
The Cargill facility in High River remains temporarily closed and the JBS Canada plant is only operating one shift per day.
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