La Broquerie, Manitoba based HyLife has announced the completion of a 176 million dollar upgrade and expansion of its integrated pork processing network.
HyLife is an integrated pork processing company headquartered in La Broquerie which operates a processing plant in Neepawa, a feed mill in Kilarney, production facilities in western Manitoba, purchases hogs from producers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and sells the pork it produces to more than 23 countries, including Japan, China, Mexico, the United States and Canada.
HyLife President Claude Vielfaure says this latest expansion and upgrade is in response to market growth in Japan and China.
We produce fresh chilled pork, is our main goal, out of our plant. Obviously there’s still frozen products that come out of there. We sell those products in the Asian market. We’re the number one seller of fresh chilled pork in the Asian markets, Japan being our number one country for fresh chilled which is a high value product. So we have invested 176 million dollars in our full integrated pork company, which includes a feed mill in Kilarney and investment in bans in the western part of Manitoba.
The biggest investment is our processing plant and adding 100 thousand square feet which includes a new cut floor and new technology that is simply going to be a world class facility. We’ll be able to produce high quality pork. That is going to help make our shelf life longer which is important when you sell fresh chilled into the Asian market. It takes a while to get there so the longer the meat stays good the better.
~ Claude Vielfaure, HyLife
Vielfaure notes Canada exports about 70 percent of the pork it produces and HyLife exports an even bigger percentage than that. He says new trade agreements such as the CPTPP and CETA will help maintain markets in countries HyLife is already dealing with and open other opportunities to sell pork.
