Maple Leaf sales up, profits down

 

 

Maple Leaf Foods reported third-quarter sales were $1,034,703,000, up from $1,010,574,000 for the same quarter last year.

Net earnings were $22,327,000, down from $43,656,000 last year.

Maple Leaf to hike prices

 Maple Leaf Foods plans to increase prices early next year in response to a “challenging external environment,” chief executive Curtis Frank said in the company’s third-quarter earnings call. 

The company said it had not yet announced the details of the price hike to its customers, which include all major grocery retailers across Canada. Maple Leaf products are found in 92 per cent of households across the country. 

Maple Leaf is paying eight per cent more for live poultry compared with the same period last year, Frank said, adding that chicken products account for 40 per cent of the company’s overall sales. 

Fuel surcharges have also increased by 17 per cent in the last quarter, alongside “near everything else,” including labour, packaging and ingredients. 

“When you lump all those together, there’s just more overhanging general inflation than we would have expected at this point in the year,” Frank said. “We’re going to have to address that early in the year next year.” 

China extends tariff relief for peas, canola meal

 

China has extended significant tariff reductions on Canadian peas, canola meal, lobster and crabs, peas and canola meal for another two years after a meeting in Beijing between Chinese officials and International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu.

The tariff reductions, set to expire on Dec. 31, have been extended to the end of 2028, Sidhu said in a statement from Beijing.

The suspended tariffs include 100-per-cent levies on peas and canola meal and 25-per-cent on lobster and crab. Shipments of these products for the first eight months of the year reached $1-billion, according to Sidhu’s office.

“This extension gives farmers, producers and harvesters predictable access to the Chinese market, and it’s how we will grow our exports to China by 50 per cent by 2030 to create good-paying jobs and new opportunities for businesses across Canada,” Sidhu said.

Meat industry weeps over U.S. voting

 

Livestock farmers and meat packers are disappointed that four senators who are pushing a bill to over-ride California’s livestock housing regulations lost in the mid-term elections.

Those who lost are Ashley Hinson of Iowa. Gabe Evans in Colorado, Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin and Rob Bresnahan in Pennsylvania.

They are pushing the “Save Our Bacon” bill that would have the federal government setting animal welfare standards for livestock housing and those national standards would over-ride California and other state regulations.

The California standard for housing, such as a ban on confining gestating sows in crates, impacts Canadians who market hogs and pork to the United States where it is costly for packers selling to multi-state customers to segregate pork into lots that do or do not comply with California’s standards.

Maison Si Bon Inc. loses licence

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence held by Maison Si Bon Inc. of Montreal.

It said the company failed in the development and implementation of a preventive control plan, sanitation and cleaning procedures and procedure to prevent the risk of food contamination.

Farmers optimism inches up

 

The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer inched up by three points in October to 126.

The index for farm capital investment posted its strongest reading in nearly a year.

Their biggest concern remains the high input costs of inputs and they are less pleased about trade policy and the country's long-term direction.

The university conducts a monthly survey of about 400 farmers.

Farmers informed about hog research

Saskatchewan farmers got an update on swine research via internet connections to scientists studying feed rations, animal welfare environmental impacts.

The Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium featured presentations by Swine Innovation Porc.

Dr. Atta Agyekum, research scientist in nutrition at the Prairie Swine Centre, told how her research targets precision delivery of rations that improve production efficiency at affordable costs and benefit environmental sustainability.

Dr. Luiene Moura Rocha, research scientist in animal welfare at the swine research centre in Quebec talked about weaning practices, animal welfare, health, antimicrobial use and growth.

Dr. Lee-Anne Huber, associate professor at the University of Guelph, talked about her research on reducing environmental footprint and feed costs while increasing competitiveness in grow-finish pigs.