(Montreal) The number of hogs waiting to be slaughtered hits a new high of 196,000 at Olymel, as a series of adverse winds hit the food processor at the same time.
Updated at 4:22 p.m. yesterday
While it is normal for the number of pigs awaiting slaughter to increase due to the holiday break, labor shortage, absences related to the Omicron variant and backlogs due to a labor dispute four months, last summer, “worsened” this cyclical phenomenon, explains the first vice-president of the company, Paul Beauchamp. “It is not an event, it is a series of events whose effects have accumulated over the past 12 months”, specifies the manager.
Normally, the number of animals awaiting slaughter, which averages between 25,000 and 30,000, rises to 40,000 when the holiday season returns. The jump to 196,000 is unusual and is almost five times the average.
The news has important consequences for breeders in Quebec. Olymel is the largest pork processor in Canada. It holds 80% of the industrial processing capacity in Quebec, according to the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA).
Delays in slaughtering put enormous financial pressure on breeders, deplores William Lafond, co-owner of the Méloporc farm in Saint-Thomas, near Joliette, in Lanaudière. “I have 2,000 pigs waiting to be slaughtered. It’s about 16% of my production. ”
For Méloporc, this represents approximately $ 500,000 in outstanding revenue. Meanwhile, those 2,000 extra pigs are costing him dearly. “These are pigs that are very expensive to produce because, because they are bigger, they eat a lot of feed and the feed is very expensive due to the increase in prices. ”
Feed for the “last phase,” that is, feed consumed by pigs before slaughter, cost approximately $ 370 per tonne in 2019-2020. “This morning the price was $ 500. ”
Mr. Lafond says he is sometimes told to produce less hogs by people who do not know the industry. It is badly to know the reality of the breeders, he replies. “It takes a year to make a pig. I unfortunately do not have a crystal ball. ”
The current crisis is “unheard of”, recognizes David Duval, president of the Quebec pig breeders. “We have daily discussions with Olymel, we insist on putting in place a suitable plan for the coming weeks and we continue to work with our partners to alleviate the situation. ”
Hopes for March
Mr. Beauchamp believes that the situation will improve and become “more acceptable” from mid-March.
To decongest the network, Olymel redirected nearly 15,000 pigs from Ontario to factories in Ontario, Alberta or the United States in order to give priority to Quebec breeders in the five factories that process pigs. in Quebec.
The company also decided to cut primary meat rather than value-added cuts. In other words, the company makes cuts that are done faster (with less boning, for example), but which generate lower margins.
Olymel thus sacrifices income to favor slaughter so as to be able to reduce waiting pigs.
We are doing it, but there are limits to what we can do given the financial impact. When you do, it’s a significant economic cost.
Paul Beauchamp, Senior Vice-President of Olymel
Olymel also has to contend with the labor shortage. The company “would be able” to hire 3,000 people for all of its activities in Quebec, if the workforce was available. The employer says it has improved working conditions to attract and retain workers.
The entry into force on Monday of a new hiring threshold for temporary foreign workers, from 10% to 20%, by the federal government is a welcome boost, but we will have to wait until the end of the summer before that the company has completed the process of hiring the employees it needs.
Worse than the strike?
The number of pigs awaiting slaughter is at an even higher threshold than at the time of the labor dispute at the Vallée-Jonction plant in Beauce, which had led to an increase in the slaughter list to nearly 160,000 pigs after a four-month conflict.
Olymel assures that it was not necessary to euthanize pigs. “We do everything that is humanly possible to avoid doing it. ”
During the labor dispute, the Éleveurs de porcs du Québec sounded the alarm about the welfare of the animals piled up before being slaughtered. “Although the situation is different for our animals since we are not currently going through heat waves, that for some breeders remains unchanged and is very trying,” comments Mr. Duval.