Olymel lost $145 million

Olymel lost $145 million last year, up from $75 million the previous year and it spread red ink into its owner, Sollio Cooperative Group (formerly Cooperative Federee du Quebec).

Sollio lost $248 million on revenues of $7.9 billion.

In 2018 Sollio bought Cargill’s grain operations in Ontario, then sold six elevators in 2022.

Olymel is pressuring the Quebec hog producers’ marketing board to reduce production because it is having difficulty getting enough workers to staff its hog-slaughering plants.

It has stopped buying from Ontario producers and has asked Quebec to cut back by 850,000 market hogs this year.

The marketing board has proposed a cut to apply to all production, but Olymel countered that it can’t afford to run its large hog farms at less than capacity.